System and method for controlling power demand over an integrated wireless network

ABSTRACT

An intelligent network demand control system provides a system and method for controlling demand in an energy delivery system. The intelligent network demand control system employs a transceiver network with a plurality transceivers coupled to meters and appliances residing at a plurality of customer premises. Control room operators instruct a customer premises (CP) energy management controller to implement a reduction in system demand. A demand reduction control signal is relayed out to a predefined group of transceivers to shut off their respective controlled appliances. The predefined transceivers, identified by their identification codes, are specified in the demand reduction control signal. When the transceivers shut off the appliances in response to a broadcasted demand reduction control signal, the actual demand reduction is metered and relayed back to the CP energy management controller. The total demand reduction is aggregated into a single number and then communicated to the operators.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to controlling power demand inan electric power distribution system and, in particular, to a systemand method for ordering power demand reductions at customer premisesthrough an integrated wireless communication network.

2. Related Art

Electric utilities and other organizations are responsible for supplyingan economic, reliable and safe source of electricity to customers. Theelectric utility or other responsible organization, through its energydelivery system, provides to its customers electricity at a suitablevoltage and frequency. This electricity is provided on an instantaneousbasis. That is, when the customer turns on the light switch to light aroom, the electric utility or other responsible organization providesthe electricity to the customer's light bulb the instant that thecustomer flips the light switch on.

One of the well known difficulties in providing electricity to customersis precisely matching the aggregate amount of electricity consumed byall of the customers on an instantaneous basis with the amount ofelectricity generated and/or purchased by the providing electric utilityor other responsible organization. That is, at any instant in time, theelectric utility or other responsible organization must provide exactlythe amount of electricity used by all of the customers (plus theassociated transmission system losses). The total amount of electricityused by all of the customers at any given instant in time is commonlyreferred to as demand. Demand typically is measured in units of watts,kilo-watts (kW), mega-watts (MW) or the like. For example, aconventional light bulb may have a demand of 60 watts. One thousand ofthese light bulbs has a demand of 6 kW. If all one thousand of theselight bulbs are all turned on at the same instant in time, the electricutility or other responsible organization must instantly provide anadditional 6 kW of electricity (in addition to any associated increasesin transmission system losses) by increasing generation or purchases.

Failure by the electric utility or other responsible organization toexactly match the electric demand of their customers with the supply(generation and purchases), during every instant in time, may have veryundesirable consequences should the mismatch become significant. Whensignificant mismatches between demand and supply occur, distortions inthe electric system frequency occurs. Although the electric systemcomponents are designed to operate when the electric frequency isslightly distorted, protective devices coupled to selected components inthe electric system are designed to operate to automatically reduce oreliminate significant mismatches between demand and supply. Furthermore,other electricity characteristics may be undesirably distorted, such asvoltage, such that other types of protective relays begin to operate.

For example, if the electric utility or other responsible organizationloses a generator in an unplanned manner, the electric system demandwill exceed supply (because the supply decreases when the generatorshuts down). If the mismatch is sufficiently large, the electricfrequency will decrease from its nominal value of 60 hertz (Hz). If thefrequency drops to below 59.8 Hz, relays sense the frequency decay andoperate to selectively disconnect predefined groups of customers fromthe energy delivery system. That is, power is shut off to somecustomers. Thus, demand is reduced, hopefully to the point where demandagain approximately equals supply such that the frequency recovers backto its nominal 60 Hz value. Disconnecting customer loads to arrestfrequency decay is known as load shedding.

Although the action of the frequency sensitive relays effectivelyarrests the undesirable frequency decay, thereby saving the energydelivery system from a more severe decay in frequency and otherundesirable associated problems, those customers that were disconnectedare impacted in an undesirable manner. That is, the customers who wereselected to participate in the load shedding scheme had their power shutoff. The affected customers are inconvenienced when they aredisconnected from the energy delivery system, and the affected customersdid not volunteer to be selected as participants in the load sheddingscheme. Furthermore, the electric utility or other responsibleorganization loses the associated sales to the affected customers,thereby negatively impacting the electric utility's or other responsibleorganization's revenue stream.

Electric utilities and the other responsible organizations haveimplemented a variety of techniques to decrease the frequency ofoccurrence of these undesirable mismatches between energy demand andsupply. One well known technique is to couple selected energy consumingappliances to radio frequency (RF) controlled receivers. Then, when amismatch in demand and supply occurs, or when the electric utility orother responsible organization anticipates that a mismatch occurrence iseminent, the electric utility or other responsible organization ordersthe shut off of the selected energy consuming appliances by transmittinga shut-off signal via a RF signal to the RF receivers. Typically, agroup of appliances are coordinated to respond to a single RF frequencyor a single command delivered to the RF receivers. Such a group ofaggregated appliances is commonly referred to as a load block. Thus, byissuing a single shut-off command, appliances in the entire load blockcan be shut off such that a meaningful decrease in demand occurs.

Participation in such a load block is typically voluntary. Often,customers are offered incentives to participate. For example, a customercan be given a decrease in rate and/or a rebate to voluntarily allow theutility or other responsible organization to couple an RF receiver totheir appliance.

For example, a load block can be formed by coupling each one of theabove described one thousand light bulbs to RF receivers such that a 6kW demand reduction is realized (assuming that all of the light bulbswere on prior to sending the shut-off command). However, this is not avery effective technique for reducing demand. The 6 kW decrease indemand does not provide a meaningful demand reduction because the demanddecrease is too small to be of practical help in matching demand of theentire system with supply. Also, the cost of the RF receivers is notlikely justifiable for so little of a demand reduction.

On the other hand, forming a load block by connecting one hundred airconditioning units may provide a meaningful technique of reducing demandin a controlled manner. For example, if each air conditioning unit, whenon, consumes approximately 10 kW, the electric utility or otherresponsible organization can reduce demand by as much as 1.0 MW. A 1.0MW demand reduction is sufficiently large to make a meaningful reductionin system demand. Even if only a portion of the air conditioning unitswere on at the time the shut-off command was transmitted to the RFreceivers, the demand reduction may still be sufficiently large to bemeaningful.

Typically, electric utilities or other responsible organizations havingsuch RF controlled energy demand reduction schemes will have a pluralityof load blocks that can be selectively shut off depending upon theparticular needs at hand. For example, a load block may be designed toprovide an expected demand reduction of 5 MW. The system may have eightsuch blocks. At some point in time, the electric utility or otherresponsible organization may determine that a 5 MW demand reduction isneeded for a two hour period. The eight load blocks would besequentially shut off for fifteen minute intervals over the two hourperiod. Such an approach is desirable in that the negative impact to thecustomers will be minimized since the temperature of the customers'premises is not likely to become noticeably uncomfortable during the 15minute period that their air conditioners are shut off.

Similarly, the electric utility or other responsible organization maydetermine that a 40 MW demand reduction is required for fifteen minutes,thereby providing sufficient time to increase generation or purchaseadditional power. All eight load blocks could be simultaneously shutoff, thereby achieving a 40 MW demand reduction. One skilled in the artwill appreciate the significant flexibility provided to the electricutility or other responsible organization having access to an energydemand reduction system employing a plurality of RF controlled loadblocks.

However, such energy demand reduction systems employing a plurality ofRF controlled load blocks have numerous problems and deficiencies. Oncea load block is established by configuring an RF communication networkto provide a unique shut-off signal, and after a sufficient number ofselected appliances are fitted with RF receivers responsive to theshut-off signal, it is difficult to revise, update and/or modify theload block. If the shut off signal is modified or changed, eachindividual appliance RF receiver may have to be manually reconfigured.If the amount of the load in the load block is to be changed, individualappliances and/or their RF receivers would have to be added, removedand/or reconfigured on an individual basis. Such changes require thetime of a trained technician. Technician time directly equates to anexpense to the electric utility or other responsible organization.Furthermore, making significant changes to an established load blockwill take a considerable amount of time to implement.

Furthermore, there is no way to ascertain the failure of an RF receiveror the associated appliance control equipment. Thus, the shut-off signalsent out to the RF receivers would not have an effect on a failed RFreceiver. Only during a manual inspection would the failed RF receiverbe detected and fixed.

Another problem associated with conventional RF controlled load blocksarises from the statistical nature of loads serviced by an electricpower distribution system. Consider the above described scenario whereeach one hundred air conditioning units are each in a differentresidence. During a hot summer day, it is not probable that all onehundred of the air conditioning units will be on all at the same time.An air conditioning unit cycles on and off as needed to maintaintemperature of the house according to a temperature range specified bythe thermostat in the house. Thus, at any given moment, some of the airconditioners will likely be on and some of the air conditioners willlikely be off. Furthermore, the thermostat settings will not be the samefor all of the residences. Statistics are used by the electric utilityor other responsible organization to estimate, with a reasonable degreeof accuracy, how many of the air conditioning units will likely be on atany given instant for an ambient temperature. Thus, the amount of loadconsumed by the aggregation of the one hundred air conditioners can beestimated. However, an estimate is not an exact number. The electricutility or other responsible organization cannot know with certaintyexactly how much load is shut off when the shut-off signal is sent outto the RF receivers.

Another related problem arises from the nature in which the loads aremetered (measured). Typically, aggregate customer loads are metered on areal-time basis by monitoring meters residing in the distributionsubstations. Thus, if the load block is serviced from a singlesubstation (which is not very likely), the electric utility or otherresponsible organization may get a good approximation of the effect ofshutting off the load block by closely monitoring the substation meters.However, other loads are coming on, and going off, at precisely the sametime that the shut-off signal is communicated to the load block. So, themeter will, to some degree, falsely imply that shutting off the loadblock had more, or had less, of an impact than what was in fact achievedby shutting off the load block. For example, the shut-off signal mayshut off seventy-five of the one hundred air conditioning units in theload block (twenty five units are not running at the instant that theshut-off signal is sent). However, five air conditioning units not partof the load block may cycle on at substantially the same time that theshut-off signal is transmitted to the load block (a probable event ifthe substation is providing service to a large number of homes on a hotday). The substation meter would incorrectly imply that only seventy airconditioning units were shut off, when in fact, seventy-five airconditioning units were shut off. Thus, the electric utility or otherresponsible organization may at best have a good approximation of theeffectiveness of shutting off a load block. But, the electric utility orother responsible organization will not know the exact amount of demandreduction realized when the load block is shut off.

Yet another problem with demand reduction systems employing fixed-sizeload blocks is that it is difficult to readjust changes made in demand,or to fine-tune the demand changes actually realized. A load block ispre-configured to affect a predetermined number of customer appliances(which may or may not actually be operating at any given instant intime). Thus, a load block designed to statistically provide a 10 MWdemand reduction cannot be easily reconfigured to provide a 12 MW demandreduction. Furthermore, if a 10 MW demand reduction is desired, the loadblock designed to statistically provide a 10 MW demand reduction willprobably never provide exactly a 10 MW demand reduction. If, forexample, the load block provides an actual load reduction of 9 MW, thereis no convenient and effective mechanism to fine tune the energy demandreduction system or the load block such that an additional 1 MW demandreduction can be ordered.

Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry for providinga demand reduction and control system that accurately indicates the trueamount of demand reduction realized when a shut-off signal istransmitted. Also, there is a heretofore unaddressed need in theindustry to provide a demand reduction and control system that providesfor real time adjustment of demand on an appliance-by-appliance basis.There is also a heretofore unaddressed need in the industry toautomatically detect failure of RF receivers so that repairs can beinitiated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the inadequacies and deficiencies of theprior art as discussed hereinabove. One embodiment of the presentinvention, an intelligent network demand control system, provides asystem and method for providing an electric utility or other responsibleorganization direct control over selected individual customer loads suchthat the controlled loads may be selectively shut off during periods oftime when the electric utility or other responsible organization desiresto reduce system demand. The intelligent network demand control systememploys a transceiver network with a plurality of transceivers residingat a plurality of customer premises. A transceiver is coupled to eachmeter at a plurality of customer premises. Customer premises (CP)appliance controller units, each having a transceiver, are coupled toappliances residing in the plurality of customer premises. Thetransceivers and CP appliance controller units each have uniqueidentification codes. In one embodiment, transceivers broadcast to andreceive radio frequency (RF) signals. A site controller providescommunications between the plurality of transceiver units and a CPenergy management controller residing in an energy delivery systemcontrol center.

Transceivers coupled to the meters provide metered demand information tothe site controllers such that the metered demand information is relayedonto the energy delivery system control center. Metered demandinformation from all customer premises transmitted into the transceivernetwork are aggregated and then communicated to the control roomoperators. When the control room operators determine that a reduction insystem demand is required, the control room operators instruct the CPenergy management controller to implement a demand reduction. The CPenergy management controller provides control signals to the sitecontroller specifying a plurality of appliances that are to be shut off,thereby effecting a demand reduction.

The demand reduction control signal issued by the CP energy managementcontroller is relayed to the site controllers out to the plurality oftransceiver units coupled to the appliances. In one embodiment, thetransceivers are coupled to the power switches of the appliances suchthat when the transceivers receive the demand reduction control signal,the appliances are shut off. That is, when the control room operatorsinstruct the CP energy management controller to implement a reduction insystem demand, the CP energy management controller generates a demandreduction control signal which is relayed out to a plurality ofpredefined transceivers residing in the transceiver network that areconfigured to shut off their respective controlled appliances. Thisgroup of predefined transceivers is load block. The predefinedtransceivers are identified by their identification codes which arespecified in the demand reduction control signal.

When the transceivers shut off the appliances, a change in demand ismetered by the meters. Transceivers coupled to the meters detect thechange in metered demand and transmit the information to the CP energymanagement controller. Thus, when a plurality of appliances are shut offin response to a broadcasted demand reduction control signal over thetransceiver network, the actual demand reduction occurring at eachcustomer premises is metered and the metered demand change is determinedby the CP energy management controller on a real-time basis such thatthe total demand reduction is aggregated into a single number and thenprovided to the control room operators.

In one embodiment, the control room operators may review the totaldemand reduction realized and may then, if desired, instruct the CPenergy management controller to implement a second round of demandreduction by issuing a second demand reduction control signal out toanother load block (plurality of pre-defined appliances).

In another embodiment, the CP energy management controller may comparethe initial total metered demand reduction with a specified demandreduction, and if the initial demand reduction is less than thespecified demand reduction, the CP energy management controllerautomatically initiates a second round of demand reductions. With thisalternative embodiment, if the initial demand reduction exceeds thespecified demand reduction, the CP energy management controller wouldissue a control signal out to selected transceivers allowing theirappliances to re-power, thereby fine tuning the actual demand reductionto be substantially equal to the specified demand reduction requested bythe control room operators.

The present invention can also be viewed as providing a method forcontrolling demand in an energy delivery system. In one embodiment, themethod includes the steps of generating a demand reduction controlsignal from the energy management controller to at least one of aplurality of demand reduction control signal by an energy managementcontroller; transmitting the demand reduction control signal from theenergy management controller to at least one of a plurality of appliancecontrol units, each one of the plurality of appliance control unitscoupled to at least one appliance; shutting off the appliance coupled tothe appliance control unit in response to receiving the demand reductioncontrol signal; metering a first change in demand at a plurality ofmeters, each one of the meters coupled to the appliance that is coupledto one of the appliance control units; and determining a first aggregatechange in demand.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent to one skilled in the art upon examination of the followingdetailed description, when read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings. It is intended that all such features and advantages beincluded herein within the scope of the present invention and protectedby the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention can be better understood with reference to the followingdrawings. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily to scalerelative to each other, emphasis instead being placed upon clearlyillustrating the principles of the invention. Furthermore, likereference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the severalviews.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a portion of a pluralitytransceivers residing at a plurality of customer premises.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating selected transceivers residing inone of the exemplary customer premises of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating selected components of an energydelivery system control center in communication with the transceivernetwork of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating alternative communication systemsemployed by the intelligent network demand control system of FIGS. 1-3.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a customerpremises (CP) appliance controller unit residing in the customerpremises appliance controller unit of FIG. 2

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of CPappliance controller unit of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are flow charts illustrating a process for issuing ademand reduction control signal by the CP energy management controllerof FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a process for receiving a demandreduction control signal by the CP appliance controller unit of FIGS. 5and 6.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of agateway appliance controller unit.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of aCP appliance controller unit configured to provide notification that theCP appliance controller unit has received and implemented a demandreduction control signal to its controlled appliances.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

a. Overview of the Intelligent Network Demand Control System

In general, the present invention relates to a system and method forproviding an electric utility or other responsible organization directcontrol over selected customer loads such that the controlled loads areselectively shut off during periods of time when the electric utility orother responsible organization desires to reduce system demand. Systemdemand is defined herein to be the instantaneous amount of electricity,including customer loads and electric system transmission losses, thatthe electric utility or other responsible organization either generatesor purchases to provide service to its customers. Customers are definedherein to include residential customers (individuals or families livingin homes, apartments, condominiums or the like), retail customers (suchas retail stores, shopping malls, small businesses or the like) andwholesale customers (such as manufacturers, producers or the like).Although the characteristics of residential customers, retail customersand wholesale customers are very different from each other, theintelligent network demand control system is designed to apply equallywell to any customer class.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a portion of a transceivernetwork 100 having a plurality transceivers residing at a plurality ofcustomer premises. A transceiver 102, described in detail below, iscoupled to a meter (not shown) of the customer premises 104. Transceiver102 broadcasts to and receives from the transceiver unit 106 radiofrequency (RF) signals 108. The site controller 110 providescommunications between the transceiver unit 106, via connection 112, andthe energy delivery system control center 300 (FIG. 3), via connection114.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating selected transceivers residing inone of the exemplary customer premises of FIG. 1. The meter customerpremises 200 includes a meter 202 that is coupled to the transceiver204, via the connection 206. The meter 202, in one embodiment, is aconventional utility grade residential customer meter having a faceplate 208 that is visible through the cover 210. However, trasceiver 204may be configured to couple to any meter type.

Transceiver 204 detects actual instantaneous electrical usage(hereinafter defined as metered demand), that is metered by the meter202. Transceiver 204 broadcasts RF signals 212 to a transceiver station214 that would typically reside at a suitably elevated location, such ason tower 216. Transceiver station 214 transmits an RF signal 218 to thetransceiver unit 106. The transceiver unit 106 provides the metereddemand information to the site controller 110 such that the metereddemand information is relayed on to the energy delivery system controlcenter 300 (FIG. 3).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating selected components of an energydelivery system control center 300 in communication with the transceivernetwork 100 (FIG. 1). The customer premises (CP) energy managementcontroller 302 receives the metered demand information from the sitecontroller 110 (FIGS. 1 and 2), via connection 306. Then metered demandinformation from all of the customer premises is aggregated and, in oneembodiment, is then communicated to at least one of the control roomoperators 304.

The control room operators 304 are responsible for operation of theenergy delivery system that is controlled by the electric utility orother responsible organization. When the control room operators 304determine that a reduction in system demand is required, the controlroom operators 304 instruct the CP energy management controller 302 toimplement a demand reduction. The CP energy management controller 302,in a manner described in detail below, provides control signals to thesite controller 110 (FIGS. 1 and 2) specifying a plurality of appliances(a load block) that are to be shut off, thereby effecting a demandreduction.

A demand reduction control signal issued by the CP energy managementcontroller 302 (FIG. 3) is relayed to the site controller 110 out to aplurality of transceiver units, such as the transceiver unit 106 (FIGS.1 and 2). Transceiver unit 106, in a manner described in detail below,broadcasts an RF signal 218 to the transceiver station 214 (FIG. 2). Inone embodiment, the transceiver station 214 relays the demand reductioncontrol signal to the transceiver 204, which further relays the demandreduction control signal to the transceivers 220 and 222 that arecoupled to the power switches 224 and 226 of the appliances 228 and 230,respectively. Alternatively, the transceiver station may be configuredto relay the demand reduction control signal directly to thetransceivers 220 and/or 222.

When the transceivers 220 and 222 receive the demand reduction controlsignal, via the RF signals 232 and 234, respectively, the appliances 228and 230 are shut off. That is, when the control room operators 304instruct the CP energy management controller 302 (FIG. 3) to implement areduction in system demand, the CP energy management controller 302generates a demand reduction control signal which is relayed out to aplurality of transceivers residing in the transceiver network 100(FIG. 1) that are configured to shut off their respective controlledappliances.

When the transceivers 220 and 222 shut off the appliances 228 and 230,respectively, demand is detected by the meter 202 (FIG. 2). Transceiver204 detects the new metered demand and relays the new metered demand tothe CP energy management controller 302 (FIG. 3) via the transceiverstation 214, the transceiver unit 106 and the site controller 110. Whena large number of appliances are shut off in response to a broadcasteddemand reduction control signal over the transceiver network 100 (FIG.1), the actual demand reduction occurring at each customer premises ismetered and the metered demand is relayed back to the CP energymanagement controller 302 such that the total demand reduction isaggregated into a single number and then provided to the control roomoperators 304 on a real-time basis. In one embodiment, the control roomoperators 304 review the total demand reduction realized and may then,if desired, instruct the CP energy management controller 302 toimplement a second round of demand reduction by issuing a second demandreduction control signal out to a second load block (a plurality ofpre-defined appliances).

In another embodiment, the CP energy management controller 302 comparesthe total metered demand reduction with a specified demand reduction,and if a demand reduction is less than the specified demand reduction,the CP energy management controller 302 automatically initiates a secondround of demand reductions. With this alternative embodiment, if thetotal demand reduction exceeded the specified demand reduction, the CPenergy management controller 302 issues a control signal to selectedappliances allowing those appliances to re-power, thereby fine tuningthe actual demand reduction to substantially equal the specified demandreduction requested by the control room operators 304 (FIG. 3).

b. Intelligent Network Command Control System Environment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a portion of a transceivernetwork 100 in communication with a plurality of transceivers residingat a plurality of customer premises. For convenience of illustration,and for convenience of explaining the operation and functionality of theintelligent network demand control system, only a few customer premisesare illustrated on FIG. 1. An intelligent network demand control systemis configured to provide control, in a manner described below, to manyhundreds of appliances, even many thousands of appliances, dependingupon the particular demand reduction requirements of the electricutility or other responsible organization in which the intelligentnetwork demand control system is implemented in. Therefore, theexplanation of the operation and functionality of the intelligentnetwork demand control system described below is for only a smallsegment of the transceiver network 100.

A first group of customer premises 116, 118 and 120, each having a meter(not shown) coupled to a transceiver 122, 123 and 124, respectively. Themetered demand from each of the customer premises 116, 118 and 120 isrelayed to the CP energy management controller 302 (FIG. 3) by thetransceivers 122, 123 and 124, respectively. Each of the transceivers122, 124 and 126 broadcasts an RF signal 128, 130 and 126, respectively,to the transceiver station 134 that resides on the tower 136. Metereddemand information from the transceivers 122, 123 and 124 is relayed bythe transceiver station 134 to the transceiver station 138 residing ontower 140 via the RF signal 142. The metered demand signals are thenrelayed from the transceiver station 138 to the transceiver unit 106 viaRF signal 144.

One embodiment of the intelligent network demand control system employstransceivers that use standardized digital communication formats suchthat the information is communicated as packetized units of digitaldata. Other embodiments employ other suitable communication formats.

The transceiver unit 106 converts received signals, such as the receivedRF signal 144, into a suitable communication signal formatted forcommunication over a hardwire connection 112. In one embodiment, thetransceiver unit 106 formats the received broadcasted RF signals into astandardized RF 232 signal. Another embodiment converts the receivedbroadcasted metered demand information into a standardized RS 485signal. One skilled in the art will appreciate that transceiver unit 106may be configured to convert the received RF broadcast signals from thetransceivers and/or transceiver stations of the transceiver network 100into any suitable signal for transmission over a hardwireinterconnection, such as, but not limited to, a metallic conductor, acoaxial cable, an optical fiber cable or the like.

Similarly, a second grouping of customer premises 146, 148 and 150 areillustrated. Meters (not shown) residing at each of the customerpremises 146, 148 and 150 are coupled to the transceivers 152, 154 and156, respectively. Transceivers 152, 154 and 156 are in communicationwith the transceiver station 158, located on the top of tower 160.Metered demand information from each of the customer premises is relayedby the transceivers 152, 154 and 156 via broadcasted RF signals 162, 164and 166, respectively. The transceiver station 158 relays the metereddemand information to transceiver 138 via a broadcasted RF signal 168.The metered demand signals broadcasted by the transceivers 152, 154 and156 are relayed to the CP energy management controller 302 (FIG. 3) in amanner described above.

When many additional customer premises are added to the first groupingof customer premises 116, 118 and 120, such that when the meters of themany additional customer premises are coupled to transceivers andintegrated into the transceiver network 100, one skilled in the art willappreciate that a large network of transceivers will be communicatingmetered demand information to the CP energy management controller 302,via transceiver stations 134 and 138. Similarly, many other customerpremises may be integrated into the second grouping of customer premises146, 148 and 150. For convenience of illustration, only two groupings ofcustomer premises are illustrated in FIG. 1. Many other groupings ofcustomer premises may be incorporated into the transceiver network 100such that all of the transceivers of the customer premises arecommunicating to the CP energy management controller 302 via thetransceiver network 100.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that the portion of thetransceiver network 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 is configured according tothe strength of the broadcasted signal from the plurality oftransceivers, and the strength of the broadcasted signal from theplurality of transceiver stations. Thus, many more customer premises canbe configured to communicate with any number of a plurality oftransceiver units located out in the service territory of the electricutility or other responsible organization. For example, a transceiverunit 170 is illustrated coupled to the site controller 110 viaconnection 172. Transceiver unit 170 is configured to communicate withanother transceiver network (not shown). Thus, transceiver unit 170 mayserve one geographic region and transceiver unit 106 may service adifferent geographic region. Cut-away line 174 indicates separation ofthe geographic regions. However, the geographic regions are, in reality,artificial in that any transceiver may communicate with any othertransceiver unit so long as its broadcast signal strength is sufficientto be detected by the transceiver unit. Thus, any boundary associatedwith a geographic reign is easily redefined or changed by simplyreconfiguring the defined communication path for a transceiver, asdescribed in greater detail below.

Site controller 110 is configured to output to and communicate with anydesired number of transceiver units. Furthermore, a plurality of sitecontrollers can be deployed within the service territory of the electricutility or other responsible organization, thereby increasing the areaof coverage of the transceiver network 100. There are no knownlimitations that would limit the number of transceivers in communicationwith the energy delivery system control center 300 (FIG. 3) when asuitable number of transceiver units and site controllers areimplemented with a plurality of transceivers to form a transceivernetwork 100.

Site controller 110, in another embodiment, is configured to includeother functionalities. Such functionalities may be implemented in a sitecontroller without departing substantially from the operation andfunctionality of the invention. For example, a site controller maycontinuously monitor or periodically monitor metered demand at each ofthe transceiver monitored meters. The monitored demand information mayfurther be aggregated and stored for transmission to the CP energymanagement controller 302 (FIG. 3) at predefined periodic intervals.Such an embodiment is particularly advantageous in providing demandinformation such that load demand curves for monitored meters may beestablished. Thus, such a site controller would include othercomponents, such as a memory and a processor. Such alternativeembodiments of a site controller including additional functionality andadditional components are intended to be included within the scope ofthis disclosure and to be protected by the accompanying claims.

Furthermore, for convenience of illustration, the site controller 110and the transceiver unit 106 are illustrated as separate componentscoupled together via connection 112. In another embodiment, thetransceiver unit 106 and the site controller 110 are incorporated into asingle unit that performs substantially the same functionality of thetransceiver unit 106 and the site controller 110. Alternatively, thetransceiver unit 106 and site controller 110 may be convenientlyincluded in the same housing. Such an alternative embodiment isparticularly advantageous when it is desirable to centrally locatecomponents to provide easy access and/or when it is desirable to enclosethe devices in a single environmentally protective enclosure.

Each one of the transceivers, transceiver stations and transceiverunits, have a unique identification code, such as a unique alpha-numericidentification code, a hexa-decimal code, or a like identification code.For example, transceiver 102 may have the unique identification code“102”. When demand information from the customer premises 104 is relayedby the transceiver 102 to the CP energy management controller 302, themetered demand information is tagged or otherwise identified with theunique identity code “102”. Thus, CP energy management controller 302receives actual metered demand information from customer premises 104whenever the transceiver 102 broadcasts the information. Furthermore,the CP energy management controller 302 may specifically poll thetransceiver 102 to provide metered demand information by broadcasting asignal, using the unique identification code “102”, such that thetransceiver 102 recognizes that it is instructed to broadcast themetered demand information back to the CP energy management controller302. Thus, the CP energy management controller 302 is in communicationwith all of the individual transceivers of FIG. 1 such that the receivedmetered demand information is associated with specific customerpremises. Furthermore, the CP energy management controller 302 mayrequest a reading of the metered demand information from any desiredcustomer premises integrated into the intelligent network demand controlsystem by polling customer premises meter transceivers of interest.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating selected customer premises (CP)appliance controller units 220 and 222 residing in one of the exemplarycustomer premises 200. The exemplary customer premises 200 is asimplified representation of any customer premises which is integratedinto the transceiver network 100 (FIG. 1). Thus, the customer premises200 may be a residential type customer, an industrial type customer,wholesale type customer or other suitable customer.

Residing in the customer premises 200 are a plurality of appliances.Many appliances (not shown) residing in the customer premises 200 arenot suitable for integrating into the intelligent network demand controlsystem. For example, if the customer premises 200 is a residential typecustomer, appliances such as televisions, light fixtures or hair dryersare not suitable for integrating into an intelligent network demandcontrol system. Appliances such as a television or the like are notsuitable because the customer will not tolerate demand reductions atunpredictable times since the customer does not desire to be interruptedin the middle of a TV program or at times when the appliance is beingoperated. Electric light fixtures may not be suitable for integratinginto the intelligent network demand control system because the demandreduction actually realized when the lights are shut off would typicallynot be significant enough to justify the expense of installing a CPappliance controller unit. Furthermore, if a demand reduction isrequired during a time when the customer is not home, or during the daytime, the lights would most probably be shut off such that a demandreduction control signal would have no meaningful impact in reducingmetered demand at the customer premises. Also, shutting off lightsduring the nighttime when the customer is home may present a safetyhazard. Small appliances such as the portable, hand-held hair dryer arenot particularly suitable for implementing into an intelligent networkdemand control system because such appliances would not provide anysignificant demand reduction that would justify the expenditure of a CPappliance controller unit, and the probability that the hair dryer wouldactually be operating at the time a demand reduction is needed would bevery low. Furthermore, a customer using the hair dryer would nottolerate the shutting off of the hair dryer when a demand reductioncontrol signal is issued by the CP energy management controller 302(FIG. 3). Thus, one skilled in the art will appreciate that many of theappliances (not shown) residing in a customer premises are not suitablefor integration into an intelligent network demand control system.

However, many appliances are suitable for integration into anintelligent network demand control system. For example, but not limitedto, an air conditioning unit may be particularly well suited forimplementing into an intelligent network demand control system. An airconditioning unit may likely be operating at times when the control roomoperators 304 (FIG. 3) instruct the CP energy management controller 302to implement a demand reduction. If the air conditioning unit is shutoff by the CP energy management controller 302 for a reasonably limitedperiod of time, the temperature within the customer premises is notlikely to increase to an unacceptable temperature. Thus, the customerwould not be unduly inconvenienced by the shutting off of the airconditioning unit.

Other appliances may be similarly suitable for integration into anintelligent network demand control system. For example, if the customerpremises is an industrial manufacturing facility, the manufacturingmachines at the customer premises may be integrated into the intelligentdemand control system. When the control room operators 304 instruct theCP energy management controller 302 to reduce demand, the manufacturingproduction line would be shut down, thereby resulting in a considerablereduction in system demand. Here, shutting down an entire productionline may greatly inconvenience the customer. However, the electricutility or the other responsible organization may have provided specialpricing incentives to induce the customer to participate in an energycontrol plan such that the customer voluntarily agrees to integrate theappliances into the intelligent network demand control system. Oneembodiment provides a pre-notification signal to the customer such thatthe customer has time to prepare for an impending demand reduction.

Appliance 228 includes a power switch 224 that is coupled to a poweroutlet 236. Power outlet 236 includes a plurality of receptacles 238such that the appliance power cord 240 is coupled to a receptacle 238via the plug 242. The receptacles 238 of the power outlet 236 arecoupled to the customer premises electrical system network 246 viaconnection 248. The customer premises electrical system network 246 iscoupled to the meter 202 via connection 250. The meter 202 is coupled tothe electric utility or the other responsible organization electricdistribution system (not shown) via a connection known as a distributionservice drop (not shown).

The CP appliance controller unit 220 is coupled to the power switch 224of the appliance 228 via connection 252. When the CP energy managementcontroller 302 (FIG. 3) issues a demand reduction control signalspecifically to the transceiver 220, a broadcasted RF signal 232 isreceived from the transceiver network 100 (FIG. 1) such that the CPappliance controller unit 220 recognizes that the CP energy managementcontroller 302 has instructed it to shut off the appliance 228. CPtransceiver controller unit 220 then actuates the power switch 224 suchthat the appliance is shut off.

When the control room operators 304 (FIG. 3) determine that thereduction in system demand is no longer required, the control roomoperators 304 instruct the CP energy management controller 302 toterminate the demand reduction. An end of the demand reduction controlsignal is then broadcasted out to the CP transceiver controller unit 220such that the power switch 224 is enabled. Depending on the nature ofthe appliance 228, the appliance may then automatically turn itself on.For example, if appliance 228 is an air conditioning unit, the housetemperature may have increased to a point such that the thermostat (notshown) may be instructing the appliance 228 to turn on. However, thetemperature in the customer premises may be such that the thermostat maynot be instructing the air conditioning appliance 228 to turn on toprovide cooling to the customer premises 200. Thus, when the CPappliance controller unit 220 enables the power switch 224, the airconditioning appliance 228 would not turn on because the controllingthermostat would not be instructing the air conditioning appliance 228to be on.

Another appliance 230 residing in the customer premises 200 isillustrated as being integrated into the intelligent network demandcontrol system. Here, a CP appliance controller unit 222 is coupled tothe power switch 226 of the appliance 230 via connection 254. Theappliance 230 is coupled directly to the electrical system network 246via a connection 256.

Summarizing, the control room operators 304 (FIG. 3) determine that areduction in system demand is desirable. The control room operators 304instruct the CP energy management controller 302 (FIG. 3) to issue ademand reduction control signal to the CP appliance controller unit 220and/or the CP appliance controller unit 222. Upon receiving the demandreduction control signal over the transceiver network 100 (FIG. 1), theCP appliance controller unit 220 and/or the CP appliance controller unit222 disable the power switch 224 and/or the power switch 226 of theappliances 228 and 230, respectively. The transceiver 204 coupled tometer 202 detects the new metered demand at the meter 202, and thentransmits the metered demand information through the transceiver network100 to the CP energy management controller 302.

The CP energy management controller 302 aggregates the metered demandinformation received from all of the appliances, including the appliance228 and/or appliance 230, that were instructed to be shut off inaccordance with the demand reduction control signal. By comparing themetered demand information before the demand reduction with meteredinformation after the demand reduction, an aggregate change in metereddemand may be determined. The aggregated metered demand information isthen provided to the control room operators 304 so that the control roomoperators 304 can determine the effectiveness of the requested reductionin system demand.

In an alternative embodiment, the transceiver 204 monitoring metereddemand compares the metered demand information before the demandreduction control signal is received by transceivers 228 and/or 230 withthe metered demand after the transceivers 228 and/or 230 have shut offtheir respectively controlled appliances. Transceiver 204 then transmitsthe change in metered demand back to the CP energy management controller302 (FIG. 3). Such an alternative embodiment is desirable whentransceivers monitoring the meters include processing capabilities thatare readily adaptable to computing a change in metered demand and whenit is desirable to transmit the change in metered demand, therebyreducing the computational requirements at the CP energy managementcontroller 302.

c. Integrating the Intelligent Network Demand Control System Into AnEnergy Delivery System Control Center

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating selective components of an energydelivery system control center 300 in communication with the transceivernetwork 100. Included as an integral component of the intelligentnetwork demand control system is the customer premises (CP) energymanagement controller 302. The CP energy management controller 302 iscoupled to at least one of the previously described site controllers 110via connection 306. Connection 306 is coupled to connection 114 (FIGS. 1and 2) through an intermediary communication system, described in detailbelow.

CP energy management controller 302 includes at least a processor 308, amemory 310 and an interface 312. Memory 310 includes at least a database314 and the energy management controller logic 316. Processor 308 iscoupled to the memory 310 via connection 318 and is coupled to theinterface 312 via connection 320.

When the plurality of transceivers coupled to the customer premisesmeters relay metered demand information through the intelligent networkdemand control system, the CP energy management controller 302 receivesthe metered demand information and stores the received demandinformation into database 314. Processor 308 executes the energymanagement controller logic 316 to appropriately store the receivedmetered demand information into the database 314. In one embodiment,database 314 employs a look up table.

The database 314 includes information of interest such as theidentification code of each the transceivers coupled to the meters, thetime that the metered demand was received from the meter, the locationof the transceiver, and the magnitude of the metered demand. Otherinformation of interest may also be included in the database 314. Forexample, information identifying the specific customer, customersaddress and/or attributes of the customer's load may be included withindatabase 314. The nature of the appliance that is controlled by thecontrolling transceiver may also be included within the database 314.One skilled in the art will appreciate that any type of information ofinterest may be included within the database 314. Furthermore,information regarding attributes of transceiver stations, transceiverunits and site controllers, such as identification codes and locations,may be included in database 314.

In one embodiment, the database 314 is configured to store metereddemand information over predefined periods of time. The energymanagement controller logic 316 is configured to analyze the meterdemand information such that customer load profiles may be determinedfor various periods of time and/or for various operating conditions.Such an embodiment is desirable when the CP energy management controller302 is used as a predictive tool by the control room operators 304 whenascertaining reductions in demand that may be realized when the CPenergy management controller 302 is requested to initiate a reduction indemand. Furthermore, such an embodiment may be employed to moreaccurately define a second plurality of CP appliance controller unitsthat will be instructed to shut off their controlled appliances when theCP energy management controller 302 initiates a second round of demandreduction, described in greater detail below.

The CP energy management controller 302 is illustrated as being coupledto the control console 322, via connection 324. Typically, the controlroom operators 304 interface with the various components residing in theenergy delivery system control center 300 via one or more controlconsoles 322. Thus, a control room operator 304, after determining thata reduction in system demand is desirable, instructs the CP energymanagement controller 302 to issue a demand reduction control system outto a predefined group of transceivers via the control console 322.

Once the demand reduction control signal has been transmitted throughthe transceiver network 100 out to the plurality of transceiverscontrolling appliances such that the appliances are shut off,transceivers coupled to the customer premises meters relay the newmetered demand information and/or the change in demand information backto the CP energy management controller 302. The metered demandinformation received from the plurality of transceivers coupled to thecustomer premises meters are stored into the database 314. Processor 306then continues execution of the energy management controller logic 316such that the aggregate metered demand change is determined. Theaggregate metered demand change is then indicated to the control roomoperators 304 by providing the information to the control console 322. Aprocessing unit (not shown) residing in the control console 322 wouldformat and display the aggregate metered demand change and/or a changein system demand to the control room operators 304 on the display screen326.

The energy delivery system control center 300 (FIG. 3) illustrates twoadditional components of interest typically residing in a conventionalenergy delivery system control center 300. An electric system gridcontroller 328 is coupled to the control console 322 via connection 330.Such electric system grid controllers 328 are often referred to as asystem control and data acquisition (SCADA) system 328. The SCADA system328 is configured to enable the control room operators 304 to determineand control the status of the various electrical system transmissioncomponents (not shown) that reside in the electrical distributionsystem. For example, the control room operators 304 may determinewhether or not a transmission line segment is energized and operatingproperly by reviewing information provided by the SCADA system 328 onthe display screen 326. Furthermore, the control room operators 304typically have direct control over the status of many of the componentsof the electric transmission system. For example, the control roomoperators 304 may determine that the above-described transmission linesegment is not operating properly, and may instruct control devices (notshown) to electrically decouple the transmission line segment from theelectric transmission system by entering the appropriate controlcommands through the control console 322.

Another component typically residing in an energy delivery systemcontrol center 300 is the energy management system 332. The energymanagement system 332 typically provides information to the controlconsole 322, via connection 334, relating to the energy supply andenergy demand aspects of the system. For example, the energy managementsystem 332 may provide information regarding the output of each of thegenerators under the control of the electric utility or the otherresponsible organization. The energy management system 332 may alsoprovide information regarding the system purchases. Such informationfrom the energy management system 332 includes amounts of availableunused generation resources or possible amounts of energy and/or demandthat may be purchased. Furthermore, the cost of obtaining the availablegeneration and/or purchases will be provided to the control roomoperators 304. Thus, the control room operators 304 may make decisionseffecting the control of the electric system, and the mix of generationresources, based upon economic factors and other considerations. Atcertain times, the control room operators 304 may determine, based uponinformation provided by the SCADA system 328 and/or the energymanagement system 332, that an anticipated increase in system demandcannot be met either because generation resources and/or purchasedresources are not available, or because any available generationresources and/or purchased resources are too expensive to obtain. If so,the control room operators 304 may determine that it is desirable toinstruct the CP management controller 302 to issue a demand reductioncontrol signal to offset the anticipated increase in system demand.Thus, the anticipated increase in system demand may be substantiallyoffset by the requested decrease in metered demand under the control ofthe intelligent network demand control system, thereby minimizing thepotential and undesirable mismatch between energy demand and energysupply.

Another scenario in which it may be desirable to instruct the CP energymanagement controller 302 to issue a demand reduction control signal toreduce metered demand is the situation where an amount of generationcapacity and/or purchase capacity is suddenly and unexpectedly lost. Forexample, a generating unit may suddenly and unexpectedly shut down. Or,a purchase may suddenly and unexpectedly be terminated. Or, a portion ofthe electric transmission system, such as a transmission line or atransformer, may fail such that energy available from the generationresources and/or the purchased resources cannot be delivered to thecustomer premises. In these situations, the control room operators 304may determine that a demand reduction control signal should be issued bythe CP energy management controller 302 such that metered demand isreduced out on the electrical system.

d. Communication Between Site Controllers and the CP Energy ManagementController

As described above with reference to FIGS. 1-3, a site controller 110(FIGS. 1 and 2) is in communication with the interface 312 residing inthe CP energy management controller 302 (FIGS. 3 and 4). FIG. 4 is ablock diagram illustrating alternative communication systems employed bythe intelligent network demand control system. Five exemplary sitecontrollers 402, 404, 406, 408 and 410 are illustrated as being coupledto the interface 312 residing the CP energy management controller 302via five conventional communication systems. These exemplarycommunication systems are intended to illustrate some possiblecommunication systems through which the connections 114 (FIGS. 1-2) and306 (FIG. 3) may be coupled to such that the intelligent network demandcontrol system enables communication between the site controllers andthe CP energy management controller 302.

Site controller 402 is communicating to interface 312 via a conventionalpublic switched telephone network (PSTN) 412, via connections 114 and306. Thus, site controller 402 is configured to provide a suitablesignal having metered demand information that is provided to the PSTN412. PSTN 412 receives the suitably configured metered demandinformation from the site controller 402 and relays the information tothe interface 312. Interface 312 converts the received metered demandinformation from the PSTN 412 and reformats the metered demandinformation into a suitable communication signal that is provided toprocessor 308 (FIG. 3) such that the metered demand information isstored in the database 314 (FIG. 3) in a manner described above.

When the CP energy management controller 302 issues a demand reductioncontrol signal instructing preselected transceivers to shut off selectedappliances, the interface 312 converts the demand reduction controlsignal into a suitable signal formatted for communication over the PSTN412. The suitably formatted demand reduction control signal is thencommunicated through the PSTN 412 and is transmitted to the sitecontroller 402. The site controller 402 then converts the receiveddemand reduction control signal from the PSTN 412 into a suitablyformatted signal for transmission out to the appliance controllingtransceivers as described above.

The components (not shown) residing in the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 402 that are configured to transmit, receive and convertsignals from the PSTN 412 are well known in the art and, therefore, arenot described in detail herein other than to the extent necessary tounderstand the operation and functioning of these components whenemployed as part of the interface 312 and the site controller 402. Oneskilled in the art will realize that such well known components are toonumerous to describe in detail herein, and that any configuration ofsuch well known components having the above-described functionality maybe implemented in the interface 312 and the site controller 402 withoutdeparting substantially from the intelligent network demand controlsystem. Any such implementation of components configured to receive andconvert communication signals from PSTN 412 are intended to be withinthe scope of this disclosure and to be protected by the accompanyingclaims.

Site controller 404 is communicating to interface 312 via the legacyutility communication system 414, via connections 114 and 306. Thus,site controller 404 is configured to provide a suitable signal havingmetered demand information that is provided to the legacy utilitycommunication system 414. The legacy utility communication system 414 isa well known communication system employed by the electric utility orother responsible organization for the monitoring and/or control of theelectric energy distribution system.

The legacy utility communication system 414 is a conventional integratednetwork of communication technologies that may include microwavecommunication systems, conventional wire based communication systems, RFcommunications or fiber optics networks. Furthermore, these variouscommunication systems are integrated into a composite communicationsystem. Thus site controller 404 is configured to interface atconvenient locations on the legacy utility communication system 414 suchthat the site controller 404 provides the appropriately formattedinformation to the legacy utility communication system.

For example, site controller 404 may integrate into an existing fiberoptics portion of the legacy utility communication system 414. In oneembodiment, site controller 404 would be configured to interface with asuitably configured fiber optics connector to provide interconnectivitydirectly to the fiber optics networks, or alternatively, is configuredto communicate with various communication components that are associatedwith the communication of optical signals over the fiber optics network.Another embodiment of site controller 404 is configured to communicatewith the microwave portions, the conventional wire portions, or the RFportions of the legacy utility communication system 414.

The legacy utility communication system 414 receives the suitablyconfigured metered demand information from the site controller 410 andrelays the information to the interface 312. Interface 312 converts thereceived metered demand information from the legacy utilitycommunication system 414 and reformats the metered demand informationinto a suitable communication signal that is provided to processor 308(FIG. 3) such that the metered demand information is stored in thedatabase 314 (FIG. 3) in a manner described above.

When the CP energy management controller 302 issues a demand reductioncontrol signal instructing preselected transceiver to shut off selectedappliances, the interface 312 converts the demand reduction controlsignal into a suitable signal formatted for communication over thelegacy utility communication system 414. The suitable formatted demandreduction control signal is then communicated through the legacy utilitycommunication system 414 and is transmitted to the site controller 404,via connections 306 and 114. The site controller 404 then converts thereceived demand reduction control signal from the legacy utilitycommunication system into a suitably formatted signal for transmissionout to the appliance-controlling transceivers as described above.

The components (not shown) residing in the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 404 that are configured to transmit, receive and convertsignals from the legacy utility communication system are well known inthe art and, therefore, are not described in detail herein other than tothe extent necessary to understand the operation and functioning ofthese components when employed as part of the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 404. One skilled in the art will realize that such well knowncomponents are too numerous to describe in detail herein and that anyconfiguration of such well known components having the above-describedfunctionality may be implemented in the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 404 without departing substantially from the intelligentnetwork demand control system. Any such implementation of the componentsconfigured to receive and convert communication signals from the legacyutility communication system 414 are intended to be within the scope ofthis disclosure and to be protected by the accompanying claims.

Site controller 406 is communicating to interface 312 via a conventionaldigital communication system 416, via connections 114 and 306. Thus,site controller 406 is configured to provide a suitable signal havingmetered demand information that is provided to the digital communicationsystem 416. The digital communication system 416 is a conventional basedcommunication system configured to communicate information in a digitalformat. Non-limiting examples of such digitally based communicationssystems include digital subscriber loops (DSL), X.25, Internet protocol,(IP), Ethernet, Integrated services digital network (ISDN) andasynchronous transfer mode (ATM). Such digital communication systems mayemploy a PSTN, a frame relay based network and/or cable network.Furthermore, such digital communication systems may employ combinationsof the above-described systems having a plurality of segments employingdifferent technologies on each segment.

The digital communication system 416 receives the suitably configureddemand information from the site controller 406 and relays theinformation to the interface 312. Interface 312 converts the receivedmetered demand information from the digital communication system 416 andreformats the metered demand information into a suitable communicationsignal that is provided to processor 308 (FIG. 3) such that the metereddemand information is stored in the database 314 (FIG. 3) in a mannerdescribed above.

When the CP energy management controller 302 issues a demand reductioncontrol signal instructing preselected transceivers to shut off selectedappliances, the interface 312 converts the demand reduction controlsignal into a suitable signal formatted for communication over thedigital communication system 416. The suitably formatted demandreduction control signal is then communicated to the digitalcommunication system 416 and is transmitted to site controller 406, viaconnections 306 and 114. The site controller 406 then converts thereceived demand reduction control signal from the digital communicationsystem 416 into a suitably formatted signal for transmission out to theappliance controlling transceivers as described above.

The components (not shown) residing in the interface 312 and sitecontroller 406 that are configured to receive and convert signals fromthe digital communication system 416 are well known in the art and,therefore, are not described in detail herein other than to the extentnecessary to understand the operation and functioning of thesecomponents when employed as part of the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 406. One skilled in the art will realize that such well knowncomponents are too numerous to describe in detail herein, and that anyconfiguration of such well known components having the above-describedfunctionality may be implemented in the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 406 without departing substantially from the intelligentnetwork demand control system. Any such implementation of the componentsconfigured to receive and convert communication signals from the digitalcommunication system are intended to be within the scope of thisdisclosure and to be protected by the accompanying claims.

Site controller 408 is communicating to interface 312 via a conventionalradio frequency (RF) communication system having at least a firstconventional transceiver 418 configured to broadcast RF signals 420 toconventional transceiver 422. An alternative embodiment employs othermediums of broadcast signals, such as, but not limited to, microwave.Thus, site controller 408 is configured to provide a suitable signalhaving metered demand information that is provided to the conventionaltransceiver 418. The conventional transceiver 418 receives the suitablyconfigured metered demand information from the site controller 408 andrelays the information to conventional transceiver 422. The conventionaltransceiver 422 relays the information to the interface 312. Interface312 converts the received metered demand information from theconventional transceiver 422 and reformats the metered demandinformation into a suitable communication signal that is provided toprocessor 308 (FIG. 3) such that the metered demand information isstored in the database 314 in a manner described above.

When the CP energy management controller 302 issues a demand reductioncontrol signal instructing the preselected transceivers to shut offselected appliances, the interface 312 converts the demand reductioncontrol signal into a suitable signal formatted for communication by theconventional transceivers 418 and 422. The suitably formatted demandreduction control signal is then communicated through the conventionaltransceiver 422 to the conventional transceiver 418, and then to thesite controller 408. The site controller 408 then converts the receiveddemand reduction control from conventional transceiver 416 into asuitably formatted signal for transmission out to the appliancecontrolling transceivers as described above.

The components (not shown) residing in the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 408 that are configured to transmit, receive and convertsignals from the conventional transceivers 418 and 422 are well known inthe art and, therefore, are not described in detail herein other than tothe extent necessary to understand the operation and functioning ofthese components when employed as part of the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 408. One skilled in the art will realize that such well knowncomponents are too numerous to describe in detail herein, and that anyconfiguration of such well known components having the above-describedfunctionality may be implemented in the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 408 without departing substantially from the intelligentnetwork demand control system. Any such implementation of the componentsconfigured to receive and convert communication signals from theconventional transceivers 418 and 422 are intended to be within thescope of this disclosure and to be protected by the accompanying claims.

Site controller 410 is communicating to interface 312 via a conventionalInternet system 424, via connections 114 and 306. Thus, site controller410 is configured to provide a suitable signal having meter demandinformation that is provided to the Internet system 424. Internet system424 receives the suitably configured meter demand information from thesite controller 410 and relays the information to the interface 312.Interface 312 converts the received meter demand information from theInternet system 424 and reformats the meter demand information into asuitable communication signal that is provided to processor 308 (FIG. 3)such that the meter demand information is stored in the database 314(FIG. 3) in a manner described above.

When the CP energy management controller 302 issues a demand reductioncontrol signal instructing preselected transceivers to shut off selectedappliances, the interface 312 converts the demand reduction controlsignal into a suitable signal formatted for communication over theInternet system 424. The suitably formatted demand reduction controlsignal is then communicated through the Internet system 424 and istransmitted to the site controller 410. The site controller 410 thenconverts the received demand reduction control signal from the Internetsystem 424 into a suitably formatted signal for transmission out to theappliance controlling transceivers as described above.

The components (not shown) residing in the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 410 that are configured to transmit, receive and convertsignals from the Internet system 424 are well known in the art and,therefore, are not described in detail herein other than to the extentnecessary to understand the operation and functioning of thosecomponents when employed as part of the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 410. One skilled in the art will realize that such well knowncomponents are too numerous to describe in detail herein, and that anyconfiguration of such well known components having the above-describedfunctionality may be implemented in the interface 312 and the sitecontroller 410 without departing substantially from the intelligentnetwork demand control system. Any such implementation of componentsconfigured to receive and convert communication signals from theInternet system 424 are intended to be within the scope of thisdisclosure and to be protected by the accompanying claims.

Other embodiments of the site controllers and the interface 312 areconfigured to communicate with other conventional communication networksor combination networks having a plurality of segments employingdifferent communication technologies on each segment. For example, asite controller and an interface could be configured to communicate oversatellite-based communication systems. Another example includes acombination system that employs the utility communication system 414 andthe Internet system 424. Such a combination system would include aninterface device to interface the utility communication system 414 withthe Internet system 424. One skilled in the art will appreciate thatthere are no intended limitations with respect to the interfacingcommunication technology through which a site controller and aninterface 312 (FIG. 3) communicate. Any such implementation of a sitecontroller and an interface 312 configured to communicate through aconventional communication technology in accordance with the operationand functionality of the intelligent network demand control systemdescribed herein is intended to be within the scope of this disclosureand to be protected by the accompanying claims.

One embodiment of the site controller employs a plurality ofstandardized components, and is configured to receive an interface card.The interface card is configured to provide connectivity to thecommunication system that is used by the intelligent network demandcontrol system to communicate over. Such an embodiment is particularlysuited to implementing a mass produced intelligent network demandcontrol system.

e. Embodiment of a Customer Premises Appliance Controller Unit

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating selected components residing inthe customer premises (CP) appliance controller units 220 and 222 (FIG.2). The CP appliance controller unit 500 includes at least a processor502, a CP appliance unit interface 504, a CP appliance unit transceiver506, an appliance controller 508, a power unit 510, an antenna 512 and amemory 514. Memory 514 includes at least the CP appliance controllerlogic 516, the CP appliance information 518 and the CP appliance unitidentifier 520.

Power requirements of the CP appliance controller unit 500 are providedby the power unit 510. The power unit 510 is coupled to a convenientpower source, such as the CP electrical system network (not shown) 246(FIG. 2) or a receptacle of a power outlet (not shown), via connection522. Power unit 510, if necessary, converts the voltage received overconnection 522 to a suitable voltage for the components residing in theCP appliance controller unit 500. Connection 524, illustrated as adashed line, is coupled as necessary (not shown) to the variouscomponents residing in the CP appliance controller unit 500. Thisembodiment of the CP appliance controller unit 500 is particularlysuited for application wherein the person installing the CP appliancecontroller unit has easy access to the customer premises electric systemnetwork 246 (FIG. 2).

The components (not shown) residing in the power unit 510 that areconfigured to convert and transmit power to the components of the CPappliance controller unit 500 are well known in the art and, therefore,are not described in detail herein other than to the extent necessary tounderstand the operation and functioning of these components whenemployed as part of the CP appliance controller unit 500. One skilled inthe art will realize that such well known components are too numerous todescribe in detail herein, and that any configuration of such well knownpower supply components may be implemented in the CP appliancecontroller unit 500 without departing substantially from the operationand functionality of the CP appliance controller unit 500 as describedbelow. Any such implementation of the components configured to providepower to the components of the CP appliance controller unit 500 areintended to be within the scope of this disclosure and to be protectedby the accompanying claims.

When the CP energy management controller 302 (FIG. 3) issues a demandreduction control signal, the demand reduction control signal isbroadcasted out into the transceiver network 100 (FIG. 1) via aplurality of transceiver units. The demand reduction control signal,which includes identification numbers for preselected CP appliancecontroller units, is detected by the antenna 512. Antenna 512 transmitsthe received demand reduction control signal to the CP appliance unittransceiver 506, via connection 526. The CP appliance unit transceiver506 is configured to receive RF signals from antenna 512 and is furtherconfigured to transmit a suitably formatted demand reduction signal toprocessor 502, via connection 528.

When processor 502 senses an incoming demand reduction control signal,processor 502 retrieves and executes the CP appliance controller logic516 residing in memory 514, via connection 530. The processor 502 alsoretrieves an identification number residing in the CP appliance unitidentifier 520 portion of the memory 514. Processor 502, executes the CPappliance controller logic 516 to compare the CP appliance controllerunit 500 identification number with the received demand reductioncontrol signal. If the CP appliance controller unit 500 identificationnumber corresponds to an identification number associated with thedemand reduction control signal, processor 502 provides a shut-offcontrol signal, via connection 532, to the appliance controller 508.Appliance controller 508 is configured to provide an appliance shut-offcontrol signal, via connection 534, to the appliance coupled to the CPappliance controller unit 500 such that the appliance is shut off.

However, if the CP appliance controller unit 500 identification numberdoes not correspond to the identification number associated with thedemand reduction control signal, processor 502 does not send a shut-offcontrol signal to the appliance controller 508. That is, if theidentification number of the CP appliance controller unit 500 does notcorrespond to information associated with the demand reduction controlsignal, processor 502 understands that its appliance is not to be shutoff.

An alternative embodiment of the CP appliance controller unit 500employs a load block identification number that is associated with theCP appliance controller unit 500. The load block identification numberresides in the CP appliance unit identifier 520. The load blockidentification number is used to associate a predefined number of CPappliance controller units into a single load block. Thus, a pluralityof different CP appliance controller units can be aggregated into aplurality of different load blocks such that the demand reductioncontrol signal may be simplified to include only the load blockidentification number. Thus, the CP appliance controller units shut offtheir respective controlled appliances when a received load blockidentification number (residing in a detected demand reduction controlsignal) matches with the load block identification number of the CPappliance controller units. Such an embodiment is particularly suitablein providing control over an electric distribution system having manycustomer premises. Furthermore, the amount of demand reductionassociated with each load block identification number can bestatistically estimated. A statistically estimated demand reductionassociated with each load block identification number is used in oneembodiment, described in greater detail below, to select a plurality ofCP appliance controller units such that the reduction in demandsubstantially equals a specified demand reduction from the controloperators 304 (FIG. 3).

For operating convenience, one embodiment of the CP appliance controllerunit 500 includes an optional CP appliance unit interface 504. The CPappliance unit interface 504 is coupled to processor 502 via connection536. CP appliance interface 504 provides an interface, via connection538, such that a person installing and/or maintaining the CP appliancecontroller unit 500 may input desired information into the memory 514 ofthe CP appliance controller unit 500. For example, the person mayspecify an identification number for the CP appliance controller unit500. Or, the person may specify information regarding the nature of theappliance that is controlled by the CP appliance controller unit 500.For example, the appliance may be an air conditioning unit (not shown).This information, and other associated information, may be input intothe CP appliance controller unit 500 and stored in the CP applianceinformation 518 portion of memory 514. Additionally, the CP applianceunit interface 504 allows for the updating of the CP appliancecontroller logic 516.

In one embodiment, the CP appliance unit transceiver 506 is configuredto broadcast information out into the transceiver network 100 (FIG. 1)by generating a suitable RF communication signal for broadcast over theantenna 512. For example, when the CP appliance controller unit 500shuts off the appliance to which it is coupled to, the CP appliancecontroller unit 500 may be configured to transmit an acknowledgmentsignal such that the acknowledgment signal is relayed back to the CPenergy management controller 302 (FIG. 3), thereby indicating to the CPenergy management controller 302 that the CP appliance controller unit500 has successfully shut off the appliance.

The CP appliance controller unit 500, in another embodiment, isconfigured to include with the broadcasted RF acknowledgment signaladditional information residing in the CP appliance information 518portion of memory 514, and/or the identification number of the CPappliance controller unit 500 residing in the CP appliance unitidentifier 520 portion of memory 514. Also, information may bebroadcasted in response to an information request from the CP energymanagement controller 302, may be included with a confirmation broadcastfrom the CP appliance controller unit 500 and/or may be transmitted on aperiodic basis to the CP energy management controller 302 formaintenance purposes described below.

Appliance controller 508, as described above, is configured to generateand transmit a control signal to the appliance that the CP appliancecontroller unit 500 is coupled to. Appliance controller 508 isconfigured to generate an appropriate control signal that is based uponthe particular appliance to which the CP appliance controller unit 500is coupled to. For example, if the CP appliance controller unit 500 iscoupled to an air conditioning unit, the appliance controller 508 isconfigured to generate a suitable command into the air conditionerappliance control unit such that the air conditioner will shut off uponreceiving appliance shut-off control signal from the appliancecontroller 508. The components (not shown) residing in the appliancecontroller 508 that are configured to transmit an appliance shut-offcontrol signal to the appliance are well known in the art and,therefore, are not described in detail herein other than to the extentnecessary to understand the operation and functioning of the appliancecontroller 508 when employed as part of the CP appliance controller unit500. One skilled in the art will realize that such well known componentsare too numerous to describe in detail herein, and that anyconfiguration of such well known components having the above-describedfunctionality may be implemented in the appliance controller 508 withoutdeparting substantially from the operation and functionality of the CPappliance controller unit 500 as described above. Any suchimplementation of the components of an appliance controller 508 areintended to be within the scope of this disclosure and to be protectedby the accompanying claims.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of a CPappliance controller unit 600. Components residing in the CP appliancecontroller unit 600 that are similar to, or identical to, the componentsresiding in the CP appliance controller unit 500 (FIG. 5) employ thesame reference number and are not described again in detail herein. Thatis, the CP appliance controller unit 600 is configured substantiallysimilar to the CP appliance controller unit 500 and has substantiallysimilar operational and functionality characteristics as the CPappliance controller unit 500. However, the CP appliance controller unit600 is configured for conveniently controlling types of appliances thatemploy conventional plug-in connections for coupling to a conventionalpower outlet.

The CP appliance controller unit 600 includes a conventional plug 602coupled to a connection 604 such that the plug 602 may be convenientlycoupled to the receptacles 606 of the conventional power outlet 608. Thereceptacles 606 are coupled to the CP electrical system network 246 (seealso FIG. 2), via connection 610. Connection 604 is coupled to the powerunit 510 such that power is provided to the components residing withinthe CP appliance controller unit 600. Connection 604 is further coupledto connection 612. Connection 612 is coupled to the CP appliancecontroller power switch 614.

The CP appliance controller unit 600 is simply installed by coupling theplug 602 into the power outlet, and then coupling the appliance plug 616to connection 618. Thus the appliance 620 receives power from thereceptacle 606 via the connection 604, the connection 612, the CPappliance controller power switch 614, the connection 618 and theconnection 622.

When the CP appliance controller unit 600 receives a demand reductioncontrol signal instructing the CP appliance controller unit 600 to shutoff the appliance 620, the processor 502, via connection 624, provides ashut-off control signal to CP appliance controller switch 614 such thatelectrical connectivity between connection 612 and 618 is broken. Thatis, when processor 502 determines that it is to shut off the appliance620, the processor 502 actuates a switch residing in the CP appliancecontroller power switch 614 such that power is disconnected fromappliance 620. The CP appliance controller unit 600 is particularlysuited for controlling appliances such as refrigerators, freezers andother types of appliances that are configured to receive power fromconventional power outlets.

The components (not shown) residing in the CP appliance controller powerswitch 614 that are configured to provide electrical connectivitybetween connections 612 and 618 are well known in the art and,therefore, are not described in detail herein other than to the extentnecessary to understand the operation and functioning of thesecomponents when employed as part of the CP appliance controller unit600. One skilled in the art will realize that such well known componentsare too numerous to describe in detail herein, and that anyconfiguration of such well known components having the above-describedfunctionality may be implemented in the CP appliance controller powerswitch 614 without departing substantially from the operation andfunctionality of the CP appliance controller unit 600. Any suchimplementation of the components configured to control electrical powerbetween connection 612 and 618 are intended to be within the scope ofthis disclosure and to be protected by the accompanying claims.

f. Operation of the CP Energy Manager Controller

FIGS. 7A and 7B are flow charts illustrating a process for issuing ademand reduction control signal by the CP energy management controller302 (FIG. 3). The flow charts of FIGS. 7A and 7B show the architecture,functionality, and operation of a possible implementation of thesoftware for energy management controller logic 316 (FIG. 3). In thisregard, each block may represent a module, segment, or portion of code,which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing thespecified logical function(s). It should also be noted that in somealternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occurout of the order noted in FIGS. 7A and/or 7B, or may include additionalfunctions, without departing significantly from the functionality of theprocess whereby the CP energy management controller 302 generates ademand reduction control signal. For example, two blocks shown insuccession in FIGS. 7A and/or 7B may in fact be executed substantiallyconcurrently, the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order,or some of the blocks may not be executed in all instances, dependingupon the functionality involved, as will be further clarified hereinbelow. All such modifications and variations are intended to be includedherein within the scope of this disclosure and to be protected by theaccompanying claims.

The process starts at block 702. At block 704, processor 308 executesthe energy management controller logic 316 residing in memory 310 (FIG.3) to determine if the control room operators 304 have initiated arequest for the CP energy management controller 302 to initiate a demandreduction control signal for transmission out onto the transceivernetwork 100 (FIG. 1). At block 706, if no demand reduction controlsignal (DRCS) has been received (the NO condition) the process returnsback to block 704. One embodiment of the CP energy management controller302 is configured to periodically perform a system check to determine ifa demand reduction control signal has been requested by the control roomoperators 304. Another embodiment of the CP energy management controller302 continually monitors for an incoming demand reduction control signalrequest from the operators on a real time basis. Yet another embodimentis responsive to an incoming demand reduction control signal request forthe control room operators 304.

At block 706, once an incoming demand reduction control signal from thecontrol room operators 304 has been detected (the YES condition), theprocess proceeds to block 708. In one embodiment, the demand reductioncontrol signal includes information indicating the desired magnitude ofdemand reduction that is to be effected by the CP energy managementcontroller 302. At block 708, the CP energy management controller 302correlates the specific demand reduction with a plurality of predefinedcontrol appliance blocks. That is, the CP energy management controller310 compares the specified demand reduction from the control roomoperators 304 against a plurality of predefined controlled applianceblocks having an estimated energy demand decrease, thereby determiningwhich particular predefined controlled appliance block best correspondsto the magnitude of the specified demand reduction.

At block 710, the identified controlled appliance block is selected andthe CP energy management controller 302 generates a shut-off controlsignal. The generated demand reduction control signal includessufficient information such that all appliances associated with theselected controlled appliance block are identified. In one embodiment,the generated demand reduction control signal includes an individuallisting of all identification numbers of the CP appliance controllerunits that are to shut off their controlled appliances. In anotherembodiment, a block identifier is included in the generated demandreduction control signal. The block identifier, in this embodiment, hasbeen pre-specified into a plurality of CP appliance controller units bystoring the block identifier in the CP appliance unit identifier 520portion of memory 514 (FIGS. 5 and 6). A block identifier signal isparticularly suitable for embodiments in which a large number ofappliance are associated with a single predefined control applianceblock and when the generated demand reduction control signal is of ashort duration.

At block 712, the CP energy management controller 302 transmits thegenerated demand reduction control signal through the interface 312 overconnection 306 (FIG. 3) for transmission out to the site controller(s).As described above, the demand reduction control signal is received bythe designated CP appliance controller units such that the controlledappliances are shut off.

In one embodiment, a change in demand is detected by the transceiversthat are coupled to the customer premises meters. This demand change isrelayed back through the transceiver network 100 (FIG. 1) and isreceived by the CP energy management controller 302. That is, at block714, the CP energy management controller 302 is monitoring returnsignals indicating the change in demand at the effected customerpremises. In an alternative embodiment, additional information isprovided back to the CP energy management controller 302 for analysis.For example, that CP appliance controller units that successfullyimplemented the specified shut off of its appliance may respond with anacknowledgment signal. Likewise, CP appliance controller units failingto complete the specified shut off of their respective appliance mayindicate the failure to the CP energy management controller 302.

At block 714, once all of the transceivers monitoring the meters of thecustomer premises having CP appliance controller units designated aspart of the selected controlled appliance block have responded with themetered demand change, a total change in metered demand is computed.That is, all of the individual metered demand changes are added togetherto determine an aggregate change in metered demand.

At block 716, the aggregate change in metered demand is compared withthe specified demand reduction from the control room operators 304. Ifthe aggregated metered demand change substantially equals the specifieddemand change from the control room operators 304 (the YES condition),the CP energy management controller 302 determined that a successfuldemand reduction has been implemented and that no further action isrequired. That is, the process proceeds back to block 704 to await foranother incoming demand reduction request from the control roomoperators 304.

However, if at block 716, the actual demand change does not equal thespecified demand change (the NO condition), the process proceeds toblock 718. At block 718, a difference is determined between the computedaggregate demand change and the specified demand change from the controlroom operators 304. This difference is compared with a predeterminedthreshold. At block 720, if the difference is less than or equal to thethreshold (the NO condition) the process returns back to block 704 toawait another incoming demand reduction signal from the control roomoperators 304. That is, when the difference between the aggregate demandchange and the specified demand change is less than a predefinedthreshold, the CP energy management controller 302 recognizes that anadequate demand reduction has been implemented. However, if thedifference between the aggregate demand change and the specified changeis greater than the predefined threshold (the YES condition) the processproceeds to block 722.

At block 722 the difference between the aggregate demand change and thespecified demand change is compared with the remaining predefinedcontrolled appliance blocks. At block 724 a determination is madewhether or not there is another predefined controlled appliance blockthat has a desirable size (estimated demand reduction) available forinitiating a further demand reduction. If another predefined controlledappliance block having a desirable size is identified (the YEScondition), the controlled appliance block is selected and the CP energymanagement controller generates a demand reduction control signal forthe selected second controlled appliance block. That is, the CP energymanagement controller 302 determines the effectiveness of the firstimplemented demand reduction and if the first implemented demandreduction is insufficient to meet the request of control room operators304, the CP energy management controller 302 identifies a secondcontrolled appliance block substantially equal to the deficit in thedesired demand reduction and automatically initiates a demand reductioncontrol signal for the second controlled appliance block.

In one embodiment, if no second controlled appliance block having adesirable size has been identified at block 724 (the NO condition), theprocess proceeds to block 728. At block 728 the CP energy managementcontroller 302 selects a group of CP appliance controller units that, asa group, substantially equals the deficit in the desired demandreduction. Once identified, a new controlled appliance block is definedand the CP energy management controller 302 generates a demand reductioncontrolled signal to the newly defined controlled appliance block. Inone embodiment, database 314 (FIG. 3) includes a list of CP appliancecontroller units that have not been assigned to a predefined controllerappliance block. Thus, the CP energy management controller 302 merelyselects from the group of unassigned CP appliance controller units todetermine the newly controlled appliance block. In another embodiment,CP appliance controller units are reassigned from existing predefinedcontrolled appliance blocks.

Once the second controlled appliance block, as determined at block 726or block 728 is selected and the CP energy management controller 302generates the appropriate demand reduction control signal, the processproceeds back to block 704 to await the next request for a system demandreduction from the control room operators 304. The above-describedprocess is particularly advantageous in applications where a pluralityof predefined controlled appliance blocks are available, and where it isdesirable to provide flexibility to the control room operators 304 inimplementing a reduction in system demand. That is, the control roomoperators 304 may iteratively request a series of incremental reductionsin energy demand, thereby providing a great degree of control overdemand reductions.

In another alternative embodiment, predefined controlled applianceblocks are not used. The database 314 residing in memory 310 of the CPenergy management controller 302 (FIG. 3) includes a listing of allavailable CP appliance controller units and the amount of demandreduction that may be expected to be realized when the CP appliancecontroller unit shuts off its respective appliance. Here, the controlroom operators 304 specify a desired reduction in system demand. The CPenergy management controller selects a sufficient number of CP appliancecontroller units from the database 314 and issues a demand reductioncontrol signal to instruct the selected CP appliance controller units toshut off their respective appliances. The metered demand is relayed backthrough the transceiver network 100 to the CP energy managementcontroller 302. Thus, the CP energy management controller 302 candetermine the effectiveness of the initial demand reduction. The CPenergy management controller 302 then evaluates the actual change inmetered demand with the specified reduction in demand from the controlroom operators 304, and selects additional CP appliance controller unitsfrom the database 314 for a second round of demand reduction. Theiterative process of issuing additional demand reductions is implementedby the CP energy management controller 302 until the actual reduction inmetered demand substantially equals the specified reduction in systemdemand from the control room operators 304.

In another embodiment, the CP energy management controller 302, afterdetermining the aggregate reduction in metered demand from the initialdemand reduction control signal, determines whether or not the aggregatereduction in metered demand exceeds the predefined reduction in systemdemand requested by the control room operators 304. If the aggregatereduction in metered demand exceeded the amount requested by the controlroom operators 304, the CP energy management controller 302 woulddetermine the amount that the aggregate metered demand exceeded thespecified demand reduction, and then selects a number of CP appliancecontroller units that will be instructed to turn on their respectiveappliances. That is, if the magnitude of the demand reduction effectedby the CP energy management controller 302 exceeds the requestedreduction in demand, the CP energy management controller 302 simplyselects a group of CP appliance controller units and instructs thoseselected CP appliance controller units to re-power their respectiveappliances.

Another alternative embodiment is configured to automatically rotate thecontrolled appliance blocks in a sequential manner such that anyindividually controlled appliance block is not maintained in the shutoff state for an unreasonable amount of time. For example, the controlroom operators 304 may request the CP energy management controller 302to implement a 100 MW reduction in demand for one hour. The CP energymanagement controller 302 would identify four controlled applianceblocks of approximately 100 MW each, and then sequentially generate ademand reduction control signal to each one of the identified fourcontrolled appliance blocks. Any one individual controlled applianceblock is shut off for only fifteen minutes. One skilled in the art willappreciate that CP energy management controller 302 can be configured toprovide any degree of flexibility in rotating predefined controlledappliance blocks to prevent any one individual controlled applianceblock from being shut off for an unreasonable amount of time. Anotherembodiment of the CP energy management controller rotates individual CPappliance controller units in accordance with information residing indatabase 314 as needed.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that the CP energy managementcontroller may be configured in an infinite number of operating modes toprovide the control room operators 304 any desired degree of control andflexibility. The control room operators 304 simply communicate theirrequest to the CP energy management controller 302 through the controlconsole 322. The CP energy management controller executes the energymanagement controller logic 316 to implement the specified demandreduction.

When the energy management controller logic 316 is implemented assoftware and stored in memory 310 (FIG. 3), one skilled in the art willappreciate that the energy management controller logic 316 can be storedon any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with anycomputer and/or processor related system or method. In the context ofthis document, a memory 310 is a computer readable medium that is anelectronic, magnetic, optical, or other another physical device or meansthat contains or stores a computer and/or processor program. The energymanagement controller logic 316 can be embodied in any computer-readablemedium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system,processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch theinstructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or deviceand execute the instructions associated with the energy managementcontroller logic 316. In the context of this specification, a“computer-readable medium” can be any means that can store, communicate,propagate, or transport the program associated the energy managementcontroller logic 316 for use by or in connection with the instructionexecution system, apparatus, and/or device. The computer-readable mediumcan be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus,device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a nonexhaustivelist) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: anelectrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), anerasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM, EEPROM, or Flash memory),an optical fiber, and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM).Note that the computer-readable medium, could even be paper or anothersuitable medium upon which the program associated with the energymanagement controller logic 316 is printed, as the program can beelectronically captured, via, for instance optical scanning of the paperor other medium, then compiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in asuitable manner if necessary, and then stored in memory 310.

g. Termination of the Demand Reduction Control Signal

When the operators have determined that the demand reduction is nolonger required, the CP energy management controller 302 generates andtransmits a termination command of the demand reduction control signalout to the effected CP appliance controller units. That is, once thecontrol room operators 304 have determined that a reduction in systemdemand is no longer required. Thus, the CP energy management controller302 releases control of all of the effected appliances such that theeffected appliances then operate in accordance with their normaloperating procedures.

When the operators have determined that the reduction in system demandis no longer required, or have determined that the magnitude of thepreviously specified reduction in system demand may be decreased, oneembodiment of the CP management controller 302 is configured toimplement a “soft termination” of the demand reduction control signal.While the other embodiments described above, due to the statisticalnature of appliances controlled by the CP appliance controller units, atermination of the demand reduction control signal may result in anincrease in system demand exceeded the initial system demand reduction.For example, consider a hypothetical scenario wherein one hundred airconditioning units were defined in a first controlled appliance block.The demand reduction control signal would shut off each of the onehundred individually controlled air conditioning units. However, at thetime of the initiation of the demand reduction control signal, onlyeighty of the air conditioning units may have been in actual operationdue to the statistical nature of an air conditioning load which cycleson and off in accordance with a variety of parameters such as compressorpressure and/or thermostat settings. However, during the duration oftime that the demand reduction control signal was in effect, thetemperature inside the customer premises cooled by the one hundred airconditioning units may have all increased such that the thermostat toeach air conditioning unit is requesting the air conditioning units tobe on to provide cool conditioned air. Thus, when the demand reductioncontrol signal is terminated by the CP energy management controller 302,all one hundred of the air conditioning units would turn on. That is,only eighty air conditioning units were initially shut off, yet all onehundred air conditioning units turned on when the demand reductioncontrol signal was terminated. Thus, in previously describedembodiments, the increase in system demand may be greater thananticipated when the demand reduction control signal is terminated.

In one embodiment, the CP energy management controller 302 is configuredto incrementally terminate the demand reduction control signal to theeffected CP appliance controller units such that any unexpectedovershoot in demand increases are avoided. For the above-describedexample, the CP energy management controller 302 would terminate thedemand reduction control signal to only approximately eighty of the onehundred air conditioning units. The shut-off control signal to theremaining twenty air conditioning units would be postponed for somepredefined period of time before those twenty air conditioning units areallowed to turn back on. That is, a soft termination of the demandreduction control signal is effected.

h. Operation of the CP Appliance Controller Unit

FIG. 8 is a flow chart 800 illustrating a process for receiving a demandreduction control signal by the CP appliance controller units 500 and600 (FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively). The flow chart of FIG. 8 shows thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of a possible implementationof the software for implementing the CP appliance controller logic 516(FIG. 5). In this regard, each block may represent a module, segment, orportion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblocks may occur out of the order noted in FIG. 8 or may includeadditional functions without departing significantly from thefunctionality of the CP appliance controller units 500 and 600. Forexample, two blocks shown in succession in FIG. 8 may in fact beexecuted substantially concurrently, the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, or some of the blocks may not be executedin all instances, depending upon the functionality involved, as will befurther clarified herein below. All such modifications and variationsare intended to be included herein with the scope of this disclosure andto be protected by the accompanying claims.

At block 806, a determination is made whether or not a DRCS has beenreceived. If not (the NO condition), the process proceeds back to block804. If a DRCS has been received at block 806 (the YES), the processproceeds to block 808.

At block 808 the identification code associated with the CP appliancecontroller unit 500 or 600 is compared with identification codeinformation included as part of the received demand reduction controlsignal. That is, the demand reduction control signal will include anidentification code designating which CP appliance controller units areto be actuated to shut off their respective controlled appliances. Thisreceived information is compared with the CP appliance controller unitidentification code. At block 810, a determination is made whether ornot the identification code of the CP appliance controller unit 500 or600 corresponds with the demand reduction control signal identificationcode. If the identification codes do not match (the NO condition), theprocess proceeds back to block 804. That is, if the identification codeof the received demand reduction control signal does not match with theidentification code of the CP appliance controller unit the processor502 recognizes that its controlled appliance is not to be shut off. Thenthe CP appliance controller unit continues to wait for another incomingdemand reduction control signal which will be analyzed according to theprocess described above.

If at block 810 the identification code contained in the received demandreduction control signal matches with the identification code of the CPappliance controller unit 500 or 600, (the YES condition) the processproceeds to block 812. At block 812, processor 502 generates a shut-offcontrol signal such that the controlled appliance is shut off. Thus, theCP appliance controller unit 500 or 600 monitors incoming demandreduction control signals, and if the identification codes in the demandreduction control signal and the CP appliance controller match, theprocessor 502 recognizes that it is to shut off its respectivecontrolled appliance.

At block 814 the CP appliance controller unit 500 or 600 awaitsreception of a control signal generated by the CP energy managementcontroller 302 to determine whether or not the shut-off control signalis to be terminated. Similar to the process described in blocks 806, 808and 810, at block 814 the identification codes contained in any receivedtermination signals are compared with the identification codes of the CPappliance controller unit 500 or 600 to determine if the terminationsignal is intended to be implemented by that CP appliance controllerunit 500 or 600. For convenience of illustration, and because such aprocess is readily apparent to one skilled in the art, blocks describingthis functionality in detail are not illustrated in FIG. 8 forconvenience.

If at block 814 a determination is made that the received terminationsignal does not apply to the CP appliance controller unit 500 or 600(the NO condition) the process proceeds to block 816. At block 816 theCP appliance controller unit 500 or 600 maintains the shut-off controlsignal to the controlled appliance such that the controlled applianceremains shut off. However, if the received termination signal indicatesthat the CP appliance controller unit 500 or 600 is to terminate theshut off, processor 502 provides a control signal such that the CPappliance controller unit 500 or 600 no longer imposes a shut-offcontrol signal to the controlled appliance. That is, the CP appliancecontroller unit recognizes that the need for a demand reduction from thecontrolled appliance is no longer required, and therefore allows thecontrolled appliance to operate in its normal mode of operation.

After the appliance shut-off control signal to the controlled appliancehas been terminated at block 818, the process proceeds back to block804. Thus, the CP appliance controller unit 500 or 600 awaits their nextincoming demand reduction control signal to determine if the CPappliance controller unit 500 or 600 should shut off its controlledappliance.

When the CP appliance controller logic 520 is implemented as softwareand stored in memory 514 (FIGS. 5 and 6), one skilled in the art willappreciate that the CP appliance controller logic 520 can be stored onany computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with anycomputer and/or processor related system or method. In the context ofthis document, a memory 514 is a computer-readable medium that is anelectronic, magnetic, optical, or other another physical device or meansthat contains or stores a computer and/or processor program. CPappliance controller logic 520 can be embodied in any computer-readablemedium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system,processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch theinstructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or deviceand execute the instructions associated with the CP appliance controllerlogic 520. In the context of this specification, a “computer-readablemedium” can be any means that can store, communicate, propagate, ortransport the program associated the CP appliance controller logic 520for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system,apparatus, and/or device. The computer-readable medium can be, forexample, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device,or propagation medium. More specific examples (a nonexhaustive list) ofthe computer-readable medium would include the following: an electricalconnection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM, EEPROM, or Flash memory), anoptical fiber, and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM).Note that the computer-readable medium could even be paper or anothersuitable medium upon which the program associated with the CP appliancecontroller logic 520 is printed as the program can be electronicallycaptured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or othermedium, then compiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in a suitablemanner if necessary, and then stored in memory 514.

i. Transceiver Maintenance Feature

One embodiment described above employs transceivers configured totransmit information back to the CP energy management controller 302(FIG. 3). Location information for each transceiver in a CP appliancecontroller unit, and/or each transceiver coupled to a meter, resides indatabase 314 (FIG. 3). Transceivers configured to transmit informationback to the CP energy management controller 302, in one embodiment, areconfigured to include logic that indicates the operational status of theCP appliance controller unit and/or its associated components back tothe CP energy management controller 302. The energy managementcontroller logic 316 (FIG. 3) includes a transceiver maintenancefunction that evaluates received status and information from the signalstransmitted by the transceivers such that the operational integrity ofthe CP appliance controller unit is accessed. That is, if a component inthe CP appliance controller unit fails, the status information indicatesfailure of that component. The energy management controller logic 316provides the appropriate indication to the control room operators 304such that maintenance personnel are dispatched out to the CP appliancecontroller unit to effect a repair of the non-functioning or improperlyfunctioning component.

One embodiment employing the above-described maintenance feature employstransceivers configured to periodically transmit status information tothe CP energy management controller 302 at predefined time intervals.Another embodiment employs transceivers configured to respond to astatus information request generated by the CP energy managementcontroller 302. Here, logic residing in the energy management controllerlogic 316 would perform a maintenance function wherein pre-selectedtransceivers are requested to provide status information. Anotherembodiment employs transceivers configured to generate periodic statusreports to the CP energy management controller 302 and are configured torespond to requests for status information from the CP energy managementcontroller 302. In yet another embodiment, all three types of theabove-described transceivers are employed to communicate statusinformation to the CP energy management controller 302.

When the transceiver components that broadcast the status informationfails, such as, but not limited to, the CP appliance unit transceiver506, antenna 512, connection 526 and/or connection 528, the failure isdetected by a loss of signal. Thus, in an embodiment employing atransceiver that is to provide an acknowledgement signal, or provide astatus signal in response to a status information request, or is toprovide periodic status information reports, the failure of thetransceiver to respond or provide information at scheduled times and/orin response to a status inquiry indicates a component failure.

Summarizing, the above-described embodiment includes a maintenancefunctionality such that the operational status of the transceiversresiding in the transceiver network 100 (FIG. 1) are monitored to ensurecontinuous operational functionality. Other components of theabove-described communication network, such as the transceiver units andthe site controllers, may be also monitored. Thus, a detected failure ina transceiver or a transceiver component may be quickly detected suchthat maintenance personnel are dispatched to repair the failedcomponents or transceiver. This embodiment is particularly advantageousin providing an intelligent network demand control system having a highdegree of operational reliability and integrity.

j. Defining Transceiver Communication Paths

For convenience describing the operation and functionality of thetransceiver network 100 (FIG. 1), a simplified description of thecommunication paths employed by the plurality of transceivers isdescribed above. In one embodiment, all transceivers employed in thetransceiver network have both capability to receive broadcasted signalsand to transmit broadcast signals. However, many of the transceivershave a limited transmit signal range as the strength of the broadcastedsignal is relatively low. This embodiment is particularly suited intransceiver network 100 configurations employing a large number oftransceivers located in close proximity to other transceivers.

The communication path that a transceiver employs for broadcastingsignals is predefined. For example, transceiver 122 in FIG. 1 wasdescribed above as transmitting, and receiving, broadcast signals withtransceiver unit 106 over the path defined by signal 128, 142 and 144.That is, when the transceiver unit 106 transmits a demand reductioncontrol signal to transceiver 122, transceiver stations 138 and 134 areconfigured to relay the signal to transceiver 122. Here, if thetransceiver station 158 detects the demand reduction control signal totransceiver 122, transceiver station 158 simply ignores the detectedsignal and does not relay the signal.

In one embodiment, transmission paths for all receivers arepredetermined by the CP energy management controller 302 (FIG. 3). Pathinformation is broadcasted out to all components of the transceivernetwork 100, transceiver stations, transceiver units and sitecontrollers. Each component then configures itself to react only tothose signals for which it is part of the predefined path. Thus, whenthe transceiver unit 106 transmits a demand reduction control signal totransceiver 122, transceiver unit 170 recognizes that it is not part ofthe path to transceiver 122, and simply takes no action.

In one embodiment, the communication paths are defined by using theidentification codes associated with each transceiver, andidentification codes assigned to the transceiver stations, transceiverunits and site controllers. For example, if site controller 110 isdefined by the identification code 110, transceiver unit 106 is definedby the identification code 106, transceiver station 138 is defined bythe identification code 138, transceiver station 134 is defined by theidentification code 134, and transceiver 122 is defined by theidentification code 122, the path between the site controller 110 andtransceiver 122 is simply defined by a code such as 110.106.138.134.122(where each number corresponds to the component identification code).One skilled in the art will appreciate that other suitable codes areeasily defined.

Such a system is described in detail in the commonly assigned patententitled “MULTI-FUNCTION GENERAL PURPOSE TRANSCEIVER,” filed Mar. 18,1999, and accorded Ser. No. 6,233,327B1, issued on May 15, 2001 andincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In one embodiment of the intelligent network demand control system,failure of a transceiver or a transceiver component is detected in amanner described above. When such a failure is detected, communicationswith other transceivers may be disrupted if the failed transceiver ortransceiver component is in the communication path of othertransceivers. In such a situation, upon the detection of the failedtransceiver or transceiver component, the CP energy managementcontroller redefines communication paths for affected transceivers, andtransmits the redefined paths out to the transceivers, transceiverstations, transceiver units and site controllers such that the paths areredefined. For example, transceiver station 134 (FIG. 1) may fail. Thus,transceivers 122, 124 and 126 (FIG. 1) will not be in communication withthe CP energy management controller 302 (FIG. 3). The communication pathfor transceiver 122 would then be redefined such that transceiver 122 iscommunicating with transceiver 152 (assuming that transceiver 152 issufficiently close to transceiver 122 to detect signals broadcasted fromtransceiver 122). Thus, transceiver 122 would be in communication withthe transceiver unit 106 (FIG. 1) through a newly defined path indicatedby the signals 174, 162, 168 and 144 (FIG. 1).

Similarly, the communication path for transceiver 124 would then beredefined such that transceiver 124 is communicating with transceiver122 (assuming that transceiver 122 is sufficiently close to transceiver124 to detect signals broadcasted from transceiver 124). Thus,transceiver 124 would be in communication with the transceiver unit 106through a newly defined path indicated by the signals 176, 174, 162, 168and 144 (FIG. 1).

Similarly, the communication path for transceiver 126 would then beredefined such that transceiver 126 is communicating with transceiver124 (assuming that transceiver 124 is sufficiently close to transceiver126 to detect signals broadcasted from transceiver 126). Thus,transceiver 126 would be in communication with the transceiver unit 106through a newly defined path indicated by the signals 178, 176, 174,162, 168 and 144 (FIG. 1).

One skilled in the art will appreciate that the possible communicationpaths in a transceiver network 100 are nearly limitless, and that suchcommunication paths are easily redefined by the CP energy managementcontroller 302. The above described examples are intended to illustratesome of the alternative redefined communication paths to explain theoperation and functionality of the maintenance feature of one embodimentof the intelligent network demand control system.

k. Alternative Embodiments of the Intelligent Network Demand ControlSystem

For convenience of describing the operation and functionality of the CPenergy management controller 302 (FIG. 3), an integral part of theintelligent network demand control system, the CP energy managementcontroller 302 was illustrated as a stand-alone unit. The CP energymanagement controller 302, in an alternative embodiment, may beimplemented as an integral component of an energy management systemand/or a SCADA system without departing substantially from the operationand functionality of the intelligent network demand control system.

Furthermore, the components illustrated as residing in the CP energymanagement controller 302 may reside in alternative convenient locationsoutside of the CP energy management controller 302 without adverselyaffecting the operation and functionality of the intelligent networkdemand control system. Such components may even be integrated with otherexisting components residing in the energy delivery system controlcenter, thereby minimizing the cost of implementing an intelligentnetwork demand control system.

For example, the database 314 residing in the memory 310 (FIG. 3) may beimplemented in a memory unit residing in an alternative location, suchas the control console 322, the energy management system 332, or theSCADA system 328 (FIG. 3). Thus, metered demand information provided bythe intelligent network demand control system could simply betransferred to a database residing in the alternative location.

Similarly, the energy management controller logic 316 (FIG. 3) couldreside in a convenient alternative location and be executed by adifferent processor that resides in a convenient alternative location.Also, the interface 312 may be implemented as a stand-alone interfaceunit residing in a convenient location. For example, interface 312 maybe implemented as a stand-alone PC, a network PC, a dedicatedintranet-network interface or the like that performs the functionalityof receiving information through a communication network from the sitecontroller 110 (FIGS. 1 and 2).

For convenience of describing the operation and functionality of the CPenergy management controller 302 (FIG. 3), an integral part of theintelligent network demand control system, the CP energy managementcontroller 302 was illustrated as a stand-alone unit residing within theenergy delivery system control center. Another embodiment of the CPenergy management controller 302 resides in an alternative convenientlocation outside of the energy delivery system control center. In suchan embodiment, connection 324 may be a connection of suitable length toprovide connectivity between processor 308 and the control console 322.In other embodiments, connection 324 may include a plurality ofcomponents that provides connectivity over a special purpose network oran existing, general purpose network. For example, the CP energymanagement controller 302 could be in communication with the controlcenter energy delivery system over any one of the communication systemsdescribed above and illustrated in FIG. 4. Such a configuration iseasily implemented using appropriate interface components. Suchinterface components residing in a CP energy management controller 302and an energy delivery control system that are configured to transmit,receive and convert signals are well known in the art and, therefore,are not described in detail herein other than to the extent necessary tounderstand the operation and functioning of these components whenemployed as part of the intelligent network demand control system thatis remote from the energy delivery system control center. One skilled inthe art will realize that such well known components are too numerous todescribe in detail herein, and that any configuration of such well knowncomponents having the above-described functionality may be implementedwithout departing substantially from the intelligent network demandcontrol system.

An alternative embodiment of the CP appliance controller unit,configured substantially in accordance with the CP appliance controllerunit 500 (FIG. 5), is further configured to provide a plurality ofoutput control signals to a plurality of appliances to which the CPappliance controller unit 500 is coupled to. For example, CP appliancecontroller unit may be coupled to three appliances. The appliancecontroller would provide three output connections, or the single outputconnection would be coupled to all three appliances, such that a singleshut-off signal generated by the processor would concurrently shut offall three appliances. Alternatively, the plurality of appliances coupledto the CP appliance controller unit, in another embodiment, each have anassociated unique identification code such that a single CP appliancecontroller unit may determine which individual appliances are to be shutoff when the demand reduction control signal is received from the CPenergy management controller 302 (FIG. 3). Here, the demand reductioncontrol signal received from the CP energy management controller 302contains appliance identification codes such that the CP appliancecontroller unit determines which appliances to shut off. Furthermore, anembodiment of a CP appliance controller unit may be easily configuredsubstantially in accordance with the CP appliance controller unit 600(FIG. 6) by simply providing a plurality of receptacles to which thecontrolled appliances will be plugged into to receive electrical powerthrough the CP appliance controller unit. Such an embodiment having aplurality of receptacles may be configured to shut all appliances off asa group, or may be configured to select individual appliances forshutting off in the manner described above.

The embodiment of the intelligent network demand control system wasdescribed herein to include a plurality of transceiver units configuredto communicate based upon a predefined communication path specified bythe CP energy management controller 302. An alternative embodiment isconfigured to communicate with other special purpose systems that employcompatible transceivers. For example, a system for monitoring emergency,alarm, climate, or other conditions in a defined territory is disclosedin the co-pending commonly assigned non-provisional application entitled“SYSTEM FOR MONITORING CONDITIONS IN A RFSIDENTIAL LIVING COMMUNITY,”filed Mar. 18, 1999, and accorded Ser. No. 09/271,517, incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. The above application describes acomputerized system for monitoring emergency, alarm, climate and/orother conditions in a defined territory using a network of transceiverscommunicating back to a remote facility via a plurality of repeaters anda central system (such as a site controller). The plurality oftransceivers configured for monitoring emergency, alarm, climate and/orother conditions in a defined territory are integrated with a pluralityof transceivers for controlling customer premises appliances, therebyreducing overall facility, maintenance and installation costs byemploying common units. For example, a transceiver controlling an airconditioning unit, a transceiver monitoring metered demand and atransceiver monitoring an alarm (in accordance with the Ser. No.09/271,517 Application) may be integrated to communicate through sametransceiver stations, transceiver units and/or site controllers. Theintegrated system would simply recognize the device that is monitored orcontrolled by any particular transceiver and appropriately routecommunications to and/or from that transceiver to the appropriate remotefacility. One skilled in the art will appreciate that an intelligentnetwork demand control system described herein is interpretable into anyother special purpose system or a multipurpose system based upon anetwork of similarly configured transceivers that communicate throughcommon components.

An alternative embodiment of the CP appliance controller unit,configured substantially in accordance with the CP appliance controllerunit 500 (FIG. 5), is further configured to provide a thermostat settingcontrol signal to a thermostat controlling a air conditioning unit,heating unit, heat pump unit or the like. The thermostat control signaladjusts the setting of the thermostat such that the unit controlled bythe thermostat shuts off when a demand reduction control signal isreceived by the CP appliance controller unit. In one embodiment, thethermostat control signal resets the thermostat's temperature setting toa predefined value. Such an embodiment may be particularly useful inshutting off a controlled unit while maintaining a temperature thresholdat which the thermostat may override a shut-off signal provided by theCP appliance controller unit. For example, during the summer coolingseason, the predefined thermostat setting that the thermostat is resetto when a demand reduction control signal is received may be selected tobe 85 degrees Fahrenheit (° F.). When the demand reduction controlsignal is received by the CP appliance controller unit, a thermostatsetting control signal adjusts the thermostat setting to 85° F. Shouldthe ambient temperature monitored by the thermostat exceed 85° F., thenthe demand reduction control signal is overridden such that the airconditioning unit is activated so that ambient temperature does notsubstantially exceed 85° F. During the winter heating season, thepredefined thermostat setting may be selected to be, for example, 70degrees Fahrenheit (° F.). When the demand reduction control signal isreceived by the CP appliance controller unit, a thermostat settingcontrol signal adjusts the thermostat setting to 70° F. Should theambient temperature monitored by the thermostat decrease below 70° F.,then the demand reduction control signal is overridden such that theheating unit is activated so that ambient temperature does notsubstantially decrease below 70° F.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of agateway appliance controller unit 900. Components residing in thegateway appliance controller unit 900 that are similar to, or identicalto, the components residing in the CP appliance controller unit 500(FIG. 5) employ the same reference number and are not described again indetail herein. That is, the gateway appliance controller unit 900 isconfigured substantially similar to the CP appliance controller unit 500and has substantially similar operational and functionalitycharacteristics as the CP appliance controller unit 500. However, thegateway appliance controller unit 900 is configured for convenientlycontrolling a plurality of appliances that are coupled to a singlegateway appliance controller unit 900.

The gateway appliance controller unit 900 includes a plurality ofappliance controllers 902, 904 and 906. Processor 502 provides ashut-off control signal to the appliance controllers 902, 904 and 906,via connection 908. For convenience of illustration, connection 908 isshown as a single connection from processor 502 that branches out to theplurality of appliance controllers 902, 904 and 906. However, processor502 could employ individual connections to each of the plurality ofappliance controllers 902, 904 and 906. Appliance controllers 902, 904and 906 are coupled to at least one appliance via connections 910, 912and 914, respectively. The appliance controllers 902, 904 and 906operate substantially in accordance with the above-described appliancecontroller 508 (FIG. 5). Alternatively, one or more of the plurality ofappliance controllers 902, 904 and/or 906 may be configured to operatesubstantially in accordance with the CP appliance controller powerswitch 614 (FIG. 6). Furthermore, one or more of the plurality ofappliance controller units 902, 904 and/or 906 may be configured tocontrol a plurality of appliances, directly and/or indirectly.

When a demand reduction control signal is received by the gatewayappliance controller unit 900, information is provided such thatprocessor 502 determines which of the plurality of appliance controllers902, 904 and/or 906 are to be operated such that their controlledappliance is shut off. For example, a demand reduction control signalmay indicate that only appliance controllers 902 and 906 are to shut offtheir respective appliances. Thus, a later received incoming demandreduction control signal could include information such that appliancecontroller 904 is to shut off its controlled appliance. Alternatively, areceived demand reduction control signal could specify any combinationof identification information to identify selected appliance controllersthat are to be instructed to shut off their controlled appliances.Similarly, incoming control signals requesting a termination of thedemand reduction control signal can be tailored to selectively beaddressed to specified appliance controllers.

The gateway appliance controller unit 900 is particularly advantageousin applications where it is desirable to control a plurality ofappliances from a single centralized location. For example, the gatewayappliance controller unit 900 may be particularly applicable forcontrolling a single factory or a portion of a single factory, such asan assembly line.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an alternative embodiment of aCP appliance controller unit 1000 configured to provide notificationthat the CP appliance controller unit 1000 has received and implementeda demand reduction control signal to its controlled appliances.Components residing in the CP appliance controller unit 1000 that aresimilar to, or identical to, the components residing in the CP appliancecontroller unit 500 (FIG. 5) employ the same reference number and arenot described again in detail herein. That is, the CP appliancecontroller unit 1000 is configured substantially similar to the CPappliance controller unit 500 and has substantially similar operationaland functionality characteristics as the CP appliance controller unit500. However, the CP appliance controller unit 1000 is configured tonotify the effected customer that the CP appliance controller unit 1000has operated to shut off its controlled appliance.

When a demand reduction control signal is received by the CP appliancecontroller unit 1000 and a shut-off control signal is generated suchthat the appliance controller 508 shuts off its controlled appliance,processor 502 generates a notification signal. In one embodiment, thenotification signal is provided to the notification interface 1002, viaconnection 1004. Notification interface 1002 is configured to provide asuitably formatted notification communication signal over connection1006 such that the customer is notified that the controlled appliancehas been shut off. One non-limiting example of the notificationinterface 1002 is an embodiment that provides a suitably formattednotification communication signal that is transmitted through aconventional public switched telephone network. Another non-limitingexample of an embodiment of the notification interface 1002 is anembodiment that provides a suitably formatted notification communicationsignal in a digital format or the like that is transmitted to a PC orother similar processor. For example, such a notification communicationsignal could be provided directly to a PC or be provided into anetworked system such as an Intranet or an Internet network. Yet anothernon-limiting example of an embodiment of the notification interface 1002transmits a conventional radio frequency (RF) signal to a transceiver toprovide the notification to the customer. A non-limiting example of atransceiver configured to receive a broadcasted notificationcommunication signal is a conventional pager or a special purpose pager.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that the notification interface1002 may be configured to provide a suitable notification communicationsignal to any conventional communication system. Therefore, the specificcomponents (not shown) residing in the notification interface 1002 thatare configured to transmit a suitable notification communication signalto any particular conventional communication system are well known inthe art and, therefore, are not described in detail herein other than tothe extent necessary to understand the operation and functioning of thenotification interface 1002 when employed as part of the CP appliancecontroller unit 1000. One skilled in the art will realize that such wellknown components are too numerous to describe in detail herein, and thatany configuration of such well known components having theabove-described functionality may be implemented in the notificationinterface 1002 without departing substantially from the operation andfunctionality of the CP appliance controller unit 1000 as describedabove. Any such implementation of the components of a notificationinterface 1002 are intended to be within the scope of this disclosureand to be protected by the accompanying claims.

Alternatively, processor 502 may provide a notification signal thatactuates a light 1008. For example, the notification signal may simplybe a suitable voltage over connection 1010 such that the light 1008turns on and emits light 1012 that is visible to a customer. That is,when the customer sees the light 1012 emanating from the light 1008, thecustomer realizes that the controlled appliance has been shut off.Alternatively, a suitable audio signal may be provided over connection1010 such that a conventional speaker (not shown) provides an audiblenotification signal to the customer.

For convenience of illustration, and for explaining the operation andfunctionality of the CP appliance controller unit 1000, the notificationinterface 1002 and the light 1008 were described as residing together inthe CP appliance controller unit 1000. Alternative embodiments mayemploy a single notification device. For example, the CP appliancecontroller unit 1000 may be limited to the light 1008. Such anembodiment is particularly advantageous in providing lower cost CPappliance controller units 1000.

An alternative embodiment of the CP appliance controller unit 1000 isconfigured to receive a pre-notification demand reduction control signalthat is generated by the CP energy management controller 302 (FIG. 3).The pre-notification demand reduction control signal is generated in asimilar manner as the demand reduction control signal. However, thepre-notification demand reduction control signal does not includeinstructions directing the receiving CP appliance controller unit 1000to shut off its controlled appliance. Such an embodiment is particularlyadvantageous when the control room operators 304 (FIG. 3) realize thatat a known future time a demand reduction will be requested of the CPappliance controller units.

For example, the control room operators 304 may be notified that ageneration unit will be coming off-line or that a purchase of energyfrom another entity will be terminated in approximately one hour. Thecontrol room operators 304 then request the CP energy managementcontroller 302 (FIG. 3) to generate and transmit out onto the network apre-notification demand reduction control signal to selected CPappliance controller units 1000. Such a pre-notification demandreduction control signal could be provided at any convenient time suchthat when received by the effected customer, the effected customerbecomes aware of the impending demand reduction control signal that willshut off the customer's appliance. Such an embodiment may beparticularly advantageous to customers that desire pre-notification toprepare for the shutting down of controlled appliances. For example, alarge petroleum processing facility may be operating a plurality ofappliances that process crude oil into a variety of refined products.The pre-notification demand reduction control signal provides such acustomer sufficient time to perform operations such that when the demandreduction control signal is received, the shutting off of controlledappliances will have a minimal negative impact to the customer.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent invention, particularly, any “preferred” embodiments, are merelypossible examples of implementations, merely set forth for a clearunderstanding of the principles of the invention. Many variations andmodifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) of theinvention without departing substantially from the spirit and principlesof the invention. All such modifications and variations are intended tobe included herein within the scope of this disclosure and the presentinvention and protected by the following claims.

Now, therefore, the following is claimed:
 1. A system which controlsappliances comprising: at least one appliance controller unit, theappliance controller unit coupled to at least one appliance; an energymanagement controller configured to communicate a demand reductioncontrol signal; a site controller configured to receive the demandreduction control signal and configured to communicate a first radiofrequency (RF) signal corresponding to the demand reduction signal; afirst transceiver residing in the appliance controller unit andconfigured to receive the first radio control signal so that theappliance coupled to the appliance controller unit is shut off uponreceipt of the first RF signal; a second transceiver coupled to a meter,the meter configured to detect demand, and configured to communicate asecond RF signal corresponding to the metered demand to the sitecontroller, wherein the second RF signal is received by the sitecontroller, and wherein information corresponding to the metered demandis communicated by the site controller to the energy managementcontroller.
 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a plurality ofappliance controller units, each one of the plurality of appliancecontroller units coupled to at least one of a plurality of appliances;and a plurality of first transceivers residing in one of the pluralityof appliance controller units and configured to receive the first RFsignal corresponding to the demand reduction control signal generated bythe energy management controller so that each of the appliances coupledto the appliance controller units are shut off upon receipt of the firstRF signal.
 3. The system of claim 2, further comprising: an appliancecontroller unit memory residing in each one of the plurality ofappliance controller units, the appliance controller unit memoryconfigured to have a unique identification code identifying theappliance controller unit; and an energy management controller memoryresiding in the energy management controller, the energy managementcontroller memory having a database identifying each one of theplurality of appliance controller units and the associated uniqueidentification code such that the demand reduction control signalgenerated by the energy management controller is selectivelycommunicated to selected ones of the plurality of appliance controllerunits.
 4. The system of claim 3, further comprising logic residing inthe energy management controller memory configured to select at leastone unique appliance controller unit identification code such that whenthe demand reduction control signal is generated the selected ones ofthe plurality of appliance controller units are identified by theappliance controller unit identification code.
 5. The system of claim 1,further comprising: an appliance controller unit memory residing in eachone of the plurality of appliance controller units, the appliancecontroller unit memory having logic configured to detect the operatingstatus of a plurality of components residing in the appliance controllerunit and configured to generate a status report that is transmitted bythe first transceiver as a third RF signal to the site controller suchthat the energy management controller generates a component failurereport when the status report indicates failure of at least onecomponent residing in the appliance controller unit.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the metered demand information communicated as thesecond RF signal to the energy management controller is used todetermine the difference between the metered demand information beforegeneration of the demand reduction control signal and the metered demandinformation after the demand reduction control signal causes theappliance to be shut off.
 7. The system of claim 6, further comprising ameans for communicating information to components residing in an energydelivery system control center, the communicating means coupled to theenergy management controller, such that operators understand thedetermined difference between the metered demand information beforegeneration of the demand reduction control signal and the metered demandinformation after the demand reduction control signal causes theappliance to be shut off.
 8. The system of claim 1, further comprising ameans for receiving an instruction from components residing in an energydelivery system control center, the instruction receiving means coupledto the energy management controller such that the demand reductioncontrol signal is communicated when the instruction is received.
 9. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising; an interface coupled to theenergy management controller and configured to interface with acommunication network such that the generated demand reduction controlsignal is communicated to the site controller.
 10. The system of claim9, wherein the communication network is a public switched telephonenetwork.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein the communication network isa utility legacy communication system.
 12. The system of claim 9,wherein the communication network is a digital communication system. 13.The system of claim 9, wherein the communication network is a radiofrequency (RF) communication system.
 14. The system of claim 9, whereinthe communication network is an Internet network.
 15. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising an appliance controller unit memory residingin the appliance controller unit, the appliance controller unit memoryconfigured to have logic that compares a unique identification codeidentifying the appliance controller unit with an identification coderesiding in the first RF signal corresponding to the demand reductioncontrol signal, such that when the appliance controller unit uniqueidentification code corresponds to the demand reduction control signalidentification code, the appliance controller unit shuts off theappliance coupled to the appliance controller unit.
 16. A method forcontrolling demand in an energy delivery system, the method comprisingthe steps of: generating a demand reduction control signal by an energymanagement controller; transmitting a first radio frequency (RF) signalcorresponding to the demand reduction control signal generated by theenergy management controller to a plurality of first transceivers, onefirst transceiver residing in one of a plurality of appliance controlunits, wherein each one of the plurality of appliance control units iscoupled to at least one appliance; shutting off the appliance coupled tothe appliance control unit in response to receiving the first RF signal;metering a first change in demand at a plurality of meters, each one ofthe meters coupled to one of the appliances; transmitting plurality ofsecond RF signals each corresponding to one of the plurality of firstchanges of demand to the energy management controller from a pluralityof second transceivers, each one of the second transceivers coupled toone of the plurality of meters; and determining a first aggregate changein demand, the first aggregate change in demand equaling a sum of theplurality of first changes in demand.
 17. The method of claim 16,further comprising the steps of: assigning a unique identification codeto each one of the plurality of appliance control units; selecting aplurality of identification codes such that selected ones of theplurality of appliance control units are selected; and receiving thefirst RF signal corresponding to the generated demand reduction controlsignal by the selected ones of the plurality of appliance control unitsperform the step of shutting off each one of the appliances coupled tothe selected ones of the plurality of appliance control units.
 18. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising the step of communicating thedemand reduction control signal through a communication network from theenergy management controller to a site controller such that the sitecontroller transmits the first RF signal to the at least one of a theplurality of appliance control units.
 19. The method of claim 18,wherein the communication network is a public switched telephonenetwork.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the communication networkis a utility legacy communication system.
 21. The method of claim 18,wherein the communication network is a digital communication system. 22.The method of claim 18, wherein the communication network is a radiofrequency (RF) communication system.
 23. The method of claim 18, whereinthe communication network is an Internet network.
 24. The method ofclaim 16, further comprising the step of receiving by the energymanagement controller a demand reduction instruction from operators ofthe energy delivery system such that the step of generating the demandreduction control signal is made in response to the received demandreduction instruction.
 25. The method of claim 16, further comprisingthe steps of: determining a difference between the determined firstaggregate change in demand with a demand reduction instructionspecifying a desired amount of demand reduction; generating a seconddemand reduction control signal; transmitting a third RF signalcorresponding to the second demand reduction control signal to aplurality of third transceivers, wherein each one of the thirdtransceivers resides in one of a second plurality of appliance controlunits, and wherein each one of the second plurality of appliance controlunits is coupled to at least one appliance; shutting off at least one ofthe appliances coupled to the second plurality of appliance controlunits in response to receiving the third RF signal; metering a secondchange in demand at a second plurality of meters; transmitting aplurality of fourth RF signals each corresponding to one of theplurality of second changes of demand to the energy managementcontroller from a plurality of fourth transceivers, each one of thefourth transceivers coupled to one of the plurality of second meters;and determining a second aggregate change in demand, the secondaggregate change in demand equaling the sum of the plurality of secondchanges in demand.
 26. The method of claim 25, further comprising thestep of selecting a number of appliance control units to be members ofthe second plurality of appliance control units such that the secondaggregate change in demand substantially equals the difference betweenthe first aggregate change in demand and the desired amount of demandreduction.
 27. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:selecting at least one of the plurality of appliance control units; andtransmitting the first radio frequency (RF) signal corresponding to thegenerated demand reduction control signal to the selected appliancecontrol units such that the appliances coupled to the selected appliancecontrol units are shut off.
 28. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising the steps of: generating a terminating signal; andtransmitting a third RF signal corresponding to the terminating signalfrom the energy management controller to the plurality of appliancecontrol units such that the demand reduction control signal is ended.29. The method of claim 28, further comprising the steps of: metering asecond change in demand at each one of the plurality of meters afterreceiving the third RF signal; and determining a second aggregate changein demand, the second aggregate change in demand equaling a second sumof the plurality of second changes in demand.
 30. The method of claim29, further comprising the steps of: selecting a number of appliancecontrol units to be members of a second plurality of appliance controlunits; generating a second demand reduction control signal; transmittingthe second demand reduction control signal to the second plurality ofappliance control units, each one of the second plurality of appliancecontrol units coupled to at least one appliance; and shutting off eachone of the appliances coupled to the second plurality of appliancecontrol units in response to receiving the second demand reductioncontrol signal such that a third aggregate change in demandsubstantiallly equals a difference between the second aggregate changeof demand and the aggregate metered demand determined before the demandreduction control signal is ended.
 31. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising the steps of: assigning a unique identification code to eachone of the plurality of appliance control units; selecting a pluralityof identification codes to define a first demand reduction load block;and associating the selected identification codes with the generateddemand reduction control signal such that when the demand reductioncontrol signal is transmitted, only the appliance control units havingtheir identification code selected perform the step of shutting off atleast one of the appliances coupled to the appliance control unit. 32.The method of claim 31, further comprising the steps of: defining a loadblock identification code such that the load block identification codecorresponds to the selected unique identification codes; and associatingthe load block identification code with the generated demand reductioncontrol signal such that when the demand reduction control signal istransmitted, only the appliance control units having theiridentification code associated with the load block identification codeperform the step of shutting off each one of the appliances coupled tothe appliance control unit.
 33. The method of claim 32, furthercomprising the steps of: defining a plurality of load blockidentification codes, each one of the load block identification codescorresponding to the selected unique group of identification codes, suchthat a plurality of demand reduction load blocks are defined; estimatingan aggregate amount of demand reduction for each of the plurality ofdemand reduction load blocks; receiving a demand reduction instructionspecifying an amount of a desired aggregate demand reduction; andselecting at least one of the plurality of demand reduction load blockssuch that the estimated amount of demand reduction for the selecteddemand reduction load blocks approximately equals the amount of thedesired aggregate demand reduction, wherein the generated demandreduction control signal corresponds to the selected demand reductionload blocks.
 34. The method of claim 33, further comprising the stepsof: determining a difference between the first aggregate change indemand and the amount of the desired aggregate demand reduction;selecting at least one second demand reduction load block such that thesum of the estimated aggregate amount of demand reduction associatedwith the selected second demand reduction load block substantiallyequals the determined difference; and generating a second demandreduction control signal such that when the second demand reductioncontrol signal is transmitted, only the appliance control units havingtheir identification code associated with the second demand reductionload block perform the step of shutting off each one of the appliancescoupled to the appliance control unit.
 35. The method of claim 16,further comprising the steps of: generating an acknowledgment RF signalfrom each one of the transceivers residing in the appliance controlunits that successfully shut off its respective appliance; andcommunicating the acknowledgement RF signal to the energy managementcontroller.
 36. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of;indicating failure of at least one component residing in one of theplurality of appliance control units by generating a status RF signalthat is transmitted from the transceiver residing in the appliancecontrol unit to the energy management controller; and requestingmaintenance for the failed component.
 37. The method of claim 36,further comprising the step of generating a status request signal by theenergy management controller, such that when the status request RFsignal is received by the plurality of appliance control units, the stepof indicating failure of at least one component is initiated.
 38. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising the steps of: generating anotification control signal by the energy management controller, thegeneration of the notification control signal occurring before the stepof generating the demand reduction control signal by a predefined amountof time; transmitting a RF notification control signal corresponding tothe notification control signal to a selected one of the firsttransceivers; receiving the RF notification control signal by theselected first transceiver; and generating a notification communicationsignal by the at least one appliance control unit in which the selectedfirst transceiver resides, such that a customer understands that thestep of shutting off the appliance will occur at a future time, thefuture time substantially corresponding to the predefined amount oftime.
 39. A system for controlling demand in an energy delivery system,comprising: means for generating a demand reduction control signal by anenergy management controller; means for transmitting a first radiofrequency (RF) signal corresponding to the demand reduction controlsignal generated by the energy management controller to a plurality offirst transceivers, one first transceiver residing in one of a pluralityof appliance control units, wherein each one of the plurality ofappliance control units is coupled to at least one appliance; means forshutting off the appliance coupled to the appliance control unit inresponse to receiving the first RF signal; means for metering a firstchange in demand at a plurality of meters, each one of the meterscoupled to one of the appliances; transmitting a plurality of second RFsignals each corresponding to one of the plurality of first changes ofdemand to the energy management controller from a plurality of secondtransceivers, each one of the second transceivers coupled to one of theplurality of meters; and means for determining a first aggregate changein demand, the first aggregate change in demand equaling a sum of theplurality of first changes in demand.
 40. The system of claim 39,further comprising: means for assigning a unique identification code toeach one of the plurality of appliance control units; means forselecting a plurality of identification codes such that selected ones ofthe plurality of appliance control units are selected; and means forreceiving the first RF signal corresponding to the generated demandreduction control signal by the selected ones of the plurality ofappliance control units perform the step of shutting off each one of theappliances coupled to the selected ones of the plurality of appliancecontrol units.
 41. The system of claim 39, further comprising means forcommunicating the demand reduction control signal through acommunication network from the energy management controller to a sitecontroller such that the site controller transmits the first RF signalto the at least one of the plurality of appliance control units.
 42. Thesystem of claim 39, further comprising means for receiving by the energymanagement controller a demand reduction instruction from operators ofan energy delivery system such that the step of generating the demandreduction control signal is made in response to the received demandreduction instruction.
 43. The system of claim 39, further comprising:means for receiving a demand reduction instruction, the demand reductioninstruction having at least a requested amount of demand reduction;means for determining a difference between the determined firstaggregate change in demand with the requested amount of demandreduction; means for generating a second demand reduction controlsignal; means for transmitting a third RF signal corresponding to thesecond demand reduction control signal to a plurality of thirdtransceivers, wherein each one of the third transceivers resides in oneof second plurality of appliance control units, and wherein each one ofthe second plurality of appliance control units is coupled to at leastone appliance; means for shutting off at least one of the appliancescoupled to the second plurality of appliance control units in responseto receiving the third RF signal; means for metering a second change indemand at a second plurality of meters; means for transmitting aplurality of fourth RF signals corresponding to one of the plurality ofsecond changes of demand to the energy management controller from aplurality of fourth transceivers, each one of the fourth transceiverscoupled to one of the plurality of second meters; and means fordetermining a second aggregate change in demand, the second aggregatechange in demand equaling the sum of the plurality of second changes indemand.
 44. The system of claim 43, further comprising means forselecting a number of appliance control units to be members of thesecond plurality of appliance control units such that the secondaggregate change in demand substantially equals the difference betweenthe first aggregate change in demand and the demand reductioninstruction selecting the number of appliance control units to bemembers of the second plurality of appliance control units such that thesecond aggregate change in demand substantially equals the differencebetween the first aggregate change in demand and the requested amount ofdemand reduction.
 45. The system of claim 39, further comprising: meansfor selecting at least one of the plurality of appliance control units;and means for transmitting the first radio frequency (RF) signalcorresponding to the generated demand reduction control signal to theselected appliance control units such that the appliances coupled to theselected appliance control units are shut off.
 46. The system of claim39, further comprising: means for generating a terminating signal; andmeans for transmitting a third RF signal corresponding to theterminating signal from the energy management controller to theplurality of appliance control units such that the demand reductioncontrol signal is ended.
 47. The system of claim 46, further comprising:means for metering a second change in demand at each one of theplurality of meters after the demand reduction control signal is ended;means for determining a second aggregate change in demand, the secondaggregate change in demand equaling the sum of the metered second changein demand at each one of the plurality of meters; and means forcomparing the second aggregate change of demand with an aggregatemetered demand determined before the demand reduction control signal isended.
 48. The system of claim 47, further comprising: means forselecting a number of appliance control units to be members of a secondplurality of appliance control units; means for generating a seconddemand reduction control signal; means for transmitting the seconddemand reduction control signal to the second plurality of appliancecontrol units, each one of the second plurality of appliance controlunits coupled to at least one appliance; and means for shutting off eachone of the appliances coupled to the second plurality of appliancecontrol units in response to receiving the second demand reductioncontrol signal such that a third aggregate change in demandsubstantially equals the difference between the second aggregate changeof demand and the aggregate metered demand determined before the demandreduction control signal is ended.
 49. The system of claim 39, furthercomprising: means for assigning a unique identification code to each oneof the plurality of appliance control units; means for selecting aplurality of identification codes to define a first demand reductionload block; and means for associating the selected identification codeswith the generated demand reduction control signal such that when thedemand reduction control signal is transmitted, only the appliancecontrol units having their identification code selected perform the stepof shutting off at least one of the appliances coupled to the appliancecontrol unit.
 50. The system of claim 49, further comprising: means fordefining a load block identification code such that the load blockidentification code corresponds to the selected unique identificationcodes; and means for associating the load block identification code withthe generated demand reduction control signal such that when the demandreduction control signal is transmitted, only the appliance controlunits having their identification code associated with the load blockidentification code perform the step of shutting off each one of theappliances coupled to the appliance control unit.
 51. The system ofclaim 50, further comprising: means for defining a plurality of loadblock identification codes, each one of the load block identificationcodes corresponding to the selected unique group of identificationcodes, such that a plurality of demand reduction load blocks aredefined; means for estimating an aggregate amount of demand reductionfor each of the plurality of demand reduction load blocks; means forreceiving a demand reduction instruction specifying an amount of adesired aggregate demand reduction; and means for selecting at least oneof the plurality of demand reduction load blocks such that the estimatedaggregate amount of demand reduction for the selected demand reductionload blocks approximately equals the amount of the desired aggregatedemand reduction specified by the demand reduction control signal. 52.The system of claim 51, further comprising: means for metering anaggregate change in demand after the demand reduction control signal istransmitted to the plurality of appliance control units; means fordetermining a difference between the aggregate metered demand change andthe amount of the desired aggregate demand reduction; means forselecting at least one second demand reduction load block such that thesum of the estimated aggregate amount of demand reduction associatedwith the selected second demand reduction load block substantiallyequals the determined difference; and means for generating a seconddemand reduction control signal such that when the second demandreduction control signal is transmitted, only the appliance controlunits having their identification code associated with the second demandreduction load block perform the step of shutting off each one of theappliances coupled to the appliance control unit.
 53. The system ofclaim 39, further comprising: means for generating an acknowledgment RFsignal from each one of the transceivers residing in the appliancecontrol units that successfully shut off its respective appliance; andmeans for communicating the acknowledgement RF signal to the energymanagement controller.
 54. The system of claim 39, further comprising:means for indicating failure of at least one component residing in oneof the plurality of appliance control units by generating a status RFsignal that is transmitted from the transceiver residing in theappliance control unit to the energy management controller; and meansfor requesting maintenance for the failed component.
 55. The system ofclaim 54, further comprising means for generating a status requestsignal by the energy management controller, such that when the statusrequest RF signal is received by the plurality of appliance controlunits, the step of indicating failure of at least one component isinitiated.
 56. The system of claim 39, further comprising: means forgenerating a notification control signal by the energy managementcontroller, the generation of the notification control signal occurringbefore the demand reduction control signal is generated by a predefinedamount of time; means for transmitting a RF notification control signalcorresponding to the notification control signal from the energymanagement controller to a selected one of the first transceivers; meansfor receiving the RF notification control signal by the selected firsttransceiver; and means for generating a notification communicationsignal by the at least one appliance control unit in which the selectedfirst transceiver resides, such that a customer understands that theappliance will be shut off at a future time, the future timesubstantially corresponding to the predefined amount of time.
 57. Amethod for controlling demand in an energy delivery system, the methodcomprising the steps of: generating a demand reduction control signal byan energy management controller; transmitting the demand reductioncontrol signal from the energy management controller to a sitecontroller; communicating a first radio frequency (RF) signal from thesite controller to a transceiver network comprising a plurality ofnetwork transceivers, the first RF signal having a first identificationcode corresponding to a plurality of transceivers; communicating thefirst RF signal through the transceiver network to the plurality oftransceivers residing in the appliance controller unit; receiving thefirst RF signal by each of the plurality of transceivers, eachtransceiver residing in one of a plurality of appliance controllerunits, each appliance controller unit coupled to at least one applianceand configured to shut off the appliance coupled to the appliancecontrol unit in response to its corresponding transceiver receiving thefirst RF signal; detecting a first metered change in demand at each of aplurality of meters, each of the meters coupled to at least one of theappliances; communicating a plurality of second RF signals to thetransceiver network from a plurality of second transceivers, each one ofthe second transceivers uniquely coupled to one of the plurality ofmeters, and each of the second RF signals uniquely corresponding to thefirst metered change in demand at its respective meter; receiving theplurality of second RF signals at the site controller; communicating theplurality of second RF signals from the site controller to the energymanagement controller; and determining a first aggregate change indemand, the first aggregate change in demand equaling a sum of the firstmetered change in demand in the plurality of second RF signals.
 58. Themethod of claim 57, further comprising the step of communicating thedemand reduction control signal from the energy management controller tothe site controller through a communication network.
 59. The method ofclaim 58, wherein the communication network is a public switchedtelephone network.
 60. The method of claim 58, wherein the communicationnetwork is a utility legacy communication system.
 61. The method ofclaim 58, wherein the communication network is a digital communicationsystem.
 62. The method of claim 58, wherein the communication network isa radio frequency (RF) communication system.
 63. The method of claim 58,wherein the communication network is an Internet network.
 64. The methodof claim 57, further comprising the step of receiving by the energymanagement controller a demand reduction instruction from operators ofan energy delivery system such that the step of generating the demandreduction control signal is made in response to the received demandreduction instruction.
 65. The method of claim 57, further comprisingthe steps of: receiving a demand reduction instruction, the demandreduction instruction having at least a requested amount of demandreduction; determining a difference between the determined firstaggregate change in demand with the requested amount of demandreduction; generating a second demand reduction control signal;transmitting the second demand reduction control signal to the sitecontroller; communicating a third RF signal from the site controllerthrough the transceiver network, the third RF signal having a secondidentification code corresponding to a plurality of third transceiversresiding in a second plurality of appliance control units, each one ofthe second plurality of appliance control units coupled to at least onesecond appliance so that the second appliances coupled to the secondplurality of appliance control units are shut off in response to itscorresponding third transceiver receiving the second RF signal;detecting a second metered change in demand at each of a plurality ofsecond meters, each of the second meters coupled to at least one of thesecond appliances; communicating a plurality of fourth RF signals to thetransceiver network from a plurality of fourth transceivers, each one ofthe fourth transceivers uniquely coupled to one of the plurality ofsecond meters, and each of the fourth RF signals uniquely correspondingto the second metered change in demand at its respective second meter;receiving the plurality of fourth RF signals at the site controller;communicating the plurality of fourth RF signals from the sitecontroller to the energy management controller; and determining a secondaggregate change in demand, the second aggregate change in demandequaling the sum of the second metered change in demand in the pluralityof fourth RF signals.
 66. The method of claim 65, further comprising thestep of selecting a number of appliance control units to be members ofthe second plurality of appliance control units such that the secondaggregate change in demand substantially equals the difference betweenthe first aggregate change in demand and the requested amount of demandreduction.
 67. The method of claim 57, further comprising the steps of:generating a terminating signal; and transmitting a terminating RFsignal corresponding to the terminating signal to the plurality oftransceivers such that the demand reduction control signal is ended. 68.The method of claim 57, further comprising the steps of: assigning aunique identification code to each one of the plurality of appliancecontrol units; selecting a plurality of identification codes to define afirst demand reduction load block; and associating the selectedidentification codes with the generated demand reduction control signalsuch that when the demand reduction control signal is transmitted, onlythe appliance control units having their identification code selectedshut off the appliance coupled to the appliance control unit.
 69. Themethod of claim 68, further comprising the steps of: defining a loadblock identification code such that the load block identification codecorresponds to the selected unique identification codes; and associatingthe load block identification code with the generated demand reductioncontrol signal such that the when the demand reduction control signal istransmitted, only the appliance control units having theiridentification code associated with the load block identification codeshut off the appliance coupled to the appliance control unit.
 70. Themethod of claim 69, further comprising the steps of: defining aplurality of load block identification codes, each one of the load blockidentification codes corresponding to the selected unique group ofidentification codes, such that a plurality of demand reduction loadblocks are defined; estimating an aggregate amount of demand reductionfor each of the plurality of demand reduction load blocks; and selectingat least one of the plurality of demand reduction load blocks such thatan estimated amount of demand reduction for the selected demandreduction load blocks approximately equals a desired aggregate demandreduction specified by the demand reduction control signal.
 71. Themethod of claim 57, further comprising the steps of: generating anacknowledgment RF signal from each one of the transceivers residing inthe appliance control units that successfully shut off its respectiveappliance; and communicating the acknowledgment RF signal to the energymanagement controller through the transceiver network.
 72. The method ofclaim 57, further comprising the steps of: generating a status RF signalgenerated by one of the transceivers residing in the plurality ofappliance control units, the status RF signal indicating failure of atleast one component residing in the appliance control unit; andcommunicating the status RF signal to the energy management controllerthrough the transceiver network thereby requesting maintenance for thefailed component.
 73. The method of claim 72, further comprising thesteps of: generating a status request signal by the energy managementcontroller; communicating the status request signal to the sitecontroller; communicating a status request RF signal from the sitecontroller through the transceiver network to at least one of thetransceivers, the status request RF signal corresponding to the statusrequest signal; generating a return status request RF signal indicatingthe status of the appliance control unit; and communicating the returnstatus request signal to the energy management controller through thetransceiver network, the site controller, and the communication network.74. The method of claim 57, further comprising the steps of: generatinga notification control signal by the energy management controller, thegeneration of the notification control signal occurring before the stepof generating the demand reduction control signal by a predefined amountof time; and transmitting a RF notification control signal correspondingto the notification control signal from the energy management controllerto a selected one of the transceivers, such that when the notificationcontrol signal is received by the at least one appliance control unit inwhich the transceiver resides, a customer understands that the step ofshutting off the appliance will occur at a future time, the future timesubstantially corresponding to the predefined amount of time.
 75. Asystem for controlling demand in an energy delivery system comprising:means for generating a demand reduction control signal by an energymanagement controller; means for transmitting the demand reductioncontrol signal from the energy management controller to a sitecontroller; means for communicating a first radio frequency (RF) signalfrom the site controller to a transceiver network comprising a pluralityof network transceivers, the first RF signal having a firstidentification code corresponding to a plurality of transceivers; meansfor communicating the first RF signal through the transceiver network tothe plurality of transceivers residing in the appliance controller unit;means for receiving the first RF signal by each of the plurality oftransceivers, each transceiver residing in one of a plurality ofappliance controller units, each appliance controller unit coupled to atleast one appliance and configured to shut off the appliance coupled tothe appliance control unit in response to its corresponding transceiverreceiving the first RF signal corresponding to the demand reductioncontrol signal; means for detecting a first metered change in demand ateach of a plurality of meters, each of the meters coupled to at leastone of the appliances; means for communicating a plurality of second RFsignals to the transceiver network from a plurality of secondtransceivers, each one of the second transceivers uniquely coupled toone of the plurality of meters, and each of the second RF signalsuniquely corresponding to the first metered change in demand at itsrespective meter; means for receiving the plurality of second RF signalsat the site controller; means for communicating the plurality of secondRF signals from the site controller to the energy management controller;and means for determining a first aggregate change in demand, the firstaggregate change in demand equaling a sum of the first metered change indemand of the plurality of second RF signals.
 76. The system of claim75, further comprising means for communicating the demand reductioncontrol signal from the energy management controller to the sitecontroller through a communication network.
 77. The system of claim 76,wherein the communication network is a public switched telephonenetwork.
 78. The system of claim 76, wherein the communication networkis a utility legacy communication system.
 79. The system of claim 76,wherein the communication network is a digital communication system. 80.The system of claim 76, wherein the communication network is a radiofrequency (RF) communication system.
 81. The system of claim 76, whereinthe communication network is an Internet network.
 82. The system ofclaim 75, further comprising means for receiving by the energymanagement controller a demand reduction instruction from operators ofan energy delivery system such that the step of generating the demandreduction control signal is made in response to the received demandreduction instruction.
 83. The system of claim 75, further comprising:means for receiving a demand reduction instruction, the demand reductioninstruction having at least a requested amount of demand reduction;means for determining a difference between the determined firstaggregate change in demand with the requested amount of demandreduction; means for generating a second demand reduction controlsignal; means for transmitting the second demand reduction controlsignal to the site controller; means for communicating a third RF signalfrom the site controller through the transceiver network, the third RFsignal having a second identification code corresponding to a pluralityof third transceivers residing in a second plurality of appliancecontrol units, each one of the second plurality of appliance controlunits coupled to at least one second appliance so that the secondappliances coupled to the second plurality of appliance control unitsare shut off in response to its corresponding third transceiverreceiving the second RF signal; means for detecting a second meteredchange in demand at each of a plurality of second meters, each of thesecond meters coupled to at least one of the second appliances; meansfor communicating a plurality of fourth RF signals to the transceivernetwork from a plurality of fourth transceivers, each one of the fourthtransceivers uniquely coupled to one of the plurality of second meters,and each of the fourth RF signals uniquely corresponding to the secondmetered change in demand at its respective second meter; means forreceiving the plurality of fourth RF signals at the site controller;means for communicating the plurality of fourth RF signals from the sitecontroller to the energy management controller; and means fordetermining a second aggregate change in demand, the second aggregatechange in demand equaling the sum of the second metered change in demandin the plurality of fourth RF signals.
 84. The system of claim 83,further comprising means for selecting a number of appliance controlunits to be members of the second plurality of appliance control unitssuch that the second aggregate change in demand substantially equals thedifference between the first aggregate change in demand and therequested amount of demand reduction.
 85. The system of claim 75,further comprising: means for generating a terminating signal; and meansfor transmitting a terminating RF signal corresponding to theterminating signal to the plurality of transceivers such that the demandreduction control signal is ended.
 86. The system of claim 75, furthercomprising: means for assigning a unique identification code to each oneof the plurality of appliance control units; means for selecting aplurality of identification codes to define a first demand reductionload block; and means for associating the selected identification codeswith the generated demand reduction control signal such that when thedemand reduction control signal is transmitted, only the appliancecontrol units having their identification code selected shut off theappliance coupled to the appliance control unit.
 87. The system of claim86, further comprising: means for defining a load block identificationcode such that the load block identification code corresponds to theselected unique identification codes; and means for associating the loadblock identification code with the generated demand reduction controlsignal such that when the demand reduction control signal istransmitted, only the appliance control units having theiridentification code associated with the load block identification codeshut off the appliance coupled to the appliance control unit.
 88. Thesystem of claim 87, further comprising: means for defining a pluralityof load block identification codes, each one of the load blockidentification codes corresponding to the selected unique group ofidentification codes, such that a plurality of demand reduction loadblocks are defined; means for estimating an aggregate amount of demandreduction for each of the plurality of demand reduction load blocks; andmeans for selecting at least one of the plurality of demand reductionload blocks such that an estimated amount of demand reduction for theselected demand reduction load blocks approximately equals a desiredaggregate demand reduction specified by the demand reduction controlsignal.
 89. The system of claim 75, further comprising: means forgenerating an acknowledgment RF signal from each one of the transceiversresiding in the appliance control units that successfully shut off itsrespective appliance; and means for communicating the acknowledgment RFsignal to the energy management controller through the transceivernetwork.
 90. The system of claim 75, further comprising: means forgenerating a status RF signal generated by one of the transceiversresiding in the plurality of appliance control units, the status RFsignal indicating failure of at least one component residing in theappliance control unit; and means for communicating the status RF signalto the energy management controller through the transceiver networkthereby requesting maintenance for the failed component.
 91. The systemof claim 90, further comprising; means for communicating a statusrequest signal generated by the energy management controller to the sitecontroller; and means for communicating a status request RF signal fromthe site controller through the transceiver network to at least one ofthe transceivers the status request RF signal corresponding to thestatus request signal; means for generating a return status request RFsignal indicating the status of the appliance control unit; and meansfor communicating the return status request signal to the energymanagement controller through the transceiver network, the sitecontroller, and the communication network.
 92. The system of claim 75,further comprising: means for generating a notification control signalby the energy management controller, the generation of the notificationcontrol signal occurring before the step of generating the demandreduction control signal by a predefined amount of time; and means fortransmitting a RF notification control signal corresponding to thenotification control signal from the energy management controller to aselected one of the transceivers such that when the notification controlsignal is received by the at least one appliance control unit in whichthe transceiver resides, a customer understands that the step ofshutting off the appliance will occur at a future time, the future timesubstantially corresponding to the predefined amount of time.
 93. Themethod of claim 29, further comprising the step of comparing the secondaggregate change in demand with an aggregate metered demand determinedbefore the terminating signal is generated.